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THE EDUCATION OF 
WOMEN IN JAPAN 



By MARGARET E. BURTON 
Notable Women of Modern China 

Illustrated, ismo, cloth. Net $1.25 

The author's earlier work on the general 
subject of Women's Education in China, indi- 
cates her ability to treat with peculiar interest 
and discernment the characters making up 
this volume of striking biographies. If these 
women are types to be followed by a great 
company of like aspirations the future of a 
nation is assured. 

l!he Education of Women in China 

Illustrated. i2mo. cloth. Net $1.25 

"Thrilling is a strong word, but not too 
strong to be used in connection with The Edu- 
cation of Women in China. To many it will 
prove a revealing book and doubtless to all, 
even those well-informed upon the present 
condition of women. Miss Burton's book will 
interest all the reading public."— Christian 
Advocate. 




Several Graduates of Christian Schools Have Become 

Kindergartners 



The Education of 
Women in Japan 



BY 



^■^ 



MARGARET EX BURTON 

l\ 
Author of "Education of Women in China," " Notable Women 

of JVIodern China," etc. 



ILLUSTRATED 




New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

I/ONPON AND Edinburgh 



I "2- 



e.<>^ 



Copyright, 1914, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave. 
Toronto: 25 PJchmond St., W. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 



M 131914 

©C1.A37G361 



To my friend 
AMY ACOCK 

and all who seek to bring abundant life 
to the women of Japan. 



PREFACE 

The eyes of the Western world are to-day 
turned toward the countries of the Far East 
as never before. The startHngly rapid changes 
which have occurred within the last few years 
have brought thoughtful people everywhere 
to a realization of the fact that the great 
awakened nations of the Orient will play a 
by no means unimportant part in determining 
the trend of events in the twentieth century, 
and even in the years which lie beyond it. 
Few things are of such vital interest in our 
time as the forces which are moulding the life 
of these nations and determining the char- 
acter of the influence which they will exert. 

Japan, which was the first of the nations 
of the Far East to come out of seclusion and 
has already won her place among the world 
powers, has frequently been called the leader 
of the Orient. It is but natural that what 
Japan is and does should strongly affect the 
new life and thought of her more recently 
awakened neighbours. It is with peculiar in- 
terest, therefore, that those who have at heart 
the highest welfare of the Orient and the 

7 



8 Preface 

world are watching the development of Japan. 
Will the loss of religious faith and consequent 
diminution of moral virility which threaten 
her prevail, and Japan become a blind leader; 
or will the forces of truth and righteousness 
conquer and her influence be for uplift and 
progress ? 

This question is still to be answered. Of 
the many factors which will enter into the 
determination of the answer, one of the most 
important is the character of the education 
received by the girls who are to be the mothers 
and teachers of the nation. Few people in the 
Western world have realized the strength of 
woman's influence in Japan; but those who 
know the life of the nation most intimately 
tell us that even in olden days the women, who 
in theory were powerless, in reality greatly 
influenced the currents of life of their people. 
Their influence in the home and upon the 
lives of their children has probably been even 
greater than that of Western women, for the 
men have taken no active part in the control 
of domestic affairs. The influence exerted 
by the women of Japan, without education, 
has been so real and great as to make it evi- 
dent that the educated Japanese woman, who 
in these new days is facing opportunities of 
power unknown to her mother, will play a 



Preface 9 

very important part in determining the future 
character of this still plastic country. All that 
has tO' do therefore with the life of the woman 
student of Japan is of vital interest to those 
who are watching the development of the Sun- 
rise Kingdom. 

A brief visit to Japan and a subsequent 
study of the history and present conditions of 
woman's life and education in that country 
have brought the conviction that the present 
time is one of grave danger and of challenging 
opportunity. This book is an attempt to share 
the results of this study with others who are 
interested in the welfare of the Island Em- 
pire of the East and the continent which it so 
strongly influences. 

M. E. B. 

Chicago, III. 



CONTENTS 

I. The Education of Women in 

Old Japan .... 15 
11. The Beginnings of Modern 

Education for Women . 33 

III. Popularity and Reaction . 51 

IV. The Christian Schools for 

Girls To-day . . . -73 
V. Government Education for 

Women 105 

VI. Some Private Schools . • i37 
VII. Woman's Life in Modern 

Japan 166 

VIII. The Outlook .... 209 

Bibliography .... 253 

Appendix 254 

Index 257 



Illustrations 



Several Graduates of Christian Schools 

Have Become Kindergartners . Frontispiece ^ 



OPPOSITE 



Sewing and Playing the Koto . 

Study Hour in the Dormitory 

A Class in Foreign Housekeeping . 

A Sewing Class in a Christian School 

Japanese Girls from American Colleges at 
the Silver Bay Student Conference of the 
Young Women's Christian Association 

A Class in Etiquette .... 

In the Zoology Laboratory . 

Summer Dormitory of the Woman's Uni 

versity at Karuizawa 
Fencing at Miss Tsuda's School 
Some Private School Students . 
Factory Girls of Matsuyama 
The Young Women's Christian Associa 

tion of Sendai 

A Summer Conference of the Young 
Women's Christian Association of Japan 

Experiments in Chemistry .... 

In a Dormitory of the Young Women's 
Christian Association .... 



PAGE 
24 


1, 


42 




60 


y 


86 




98 
114 




126 


X 


144^ 




156- 




164 v^ 
168 1/ 



184 v^ 

206 ^ 

238 ^^^ 



244 



/ 



THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN 
OLD JAPAN 



cc 



npi: 



HE position of woman in Japan," 
says Baron Suyematsu, " has always 
been different, to a significant extent, 
from that of the same sex in other Asiatic 
countries." This difference is nowhere more 
noteworthy than in the attitude of ancient 
Japan toward the education of women. 
Whereas in other Oriental lands woman's edu- 
cation began, broadly speaking, only after the 
entrance of Western influences, the history 
of olden times in Japan shows that women 
played a part in their country's life which 
would have been impossible had they received 
no intellectual training. 

Between the sixth and twelfth centuries 
B. c. the intellectual life of Japan received a 
great impetus from contact with the culture of 
China, and it was at this time, says a recent 
account of the development of education in 
Japan, that " female education took its rise 
almost spontaneously." Among the most fa- 

15 



i6 Education of Women in Japan 

mous Japanese authors are women who wrote 
at this time. As the scholars of Europe during 
the Middle Ages wrote only in Latin, so at 
this period in Japan's history the men de- 
voted their energies to the composition of 
books modelled on those of China, and left 
to the women the task of producing true Japa- 
nese literature. " Men," says Dr. Griffis, 
'' had expressed political and social custom in 
law codes. They had striven to tell the story 
of human action and set it in the form of the 
literature of knowledge and erudition. The 
interpreters who came with lighter touch and 
deeper intuition, and who in the vernacular 
idiom gave true expression of the spirit of 
the age, were of the other sex. The males 
were learned, but stilted or ponderous. 
Woman's wit changed the situation and gave 
to the little world of Yamato its belles-lettres. 
Diaries, novels, pictures of life and manners 
in vigorous prose flowed from the pen of the 
women who created the literary language of 
Japan." 

The most noted of these women authors is 
probably Murasaki-shikibu, who lived in the 
tenth century a. d. She has been called by 
one of her countrymen the Chaucer of Japan. 
Dr. Griffis has only praise for her book, 
" Gengi Monogatari." " Rich in local colour, 



Education of Women in Old Japan 17 

brilliant in description, photographically true 
to the ruling ideas and customs of the age in 
a very refined and corrupt Court, this romance 
is without peer, and its diction is the standard 
of pure Japanese in the mediaeval age." 

Another well known writer of this period 
was Sei-shonagon, also a court lady, the 
author of ** Makura Zoshi," which has been de- 
scribed as ** perhaps the most perfect model of 
the classic literature of Yamato." " Such bril- 
liant stars of literature as Murasaki-shikibu, 
Izumi-shikibu, and Sei-shonagon," said a Japa- 
nese writer recently, " are an everlasting glory 
in our history." The first written history of 
Japan is ascribed to a woman. It has often- 
and truly been said that the part that women 
took in the foundation of the ancient literature 
of Japan has no parallel in the history of 
European nations. 

Nor were the ability and vigour of women 
shown only by the writers of this era. " These 
literary triumphs are not the final, the last, or 
the greatest of woman's achievements in 
Japan," Dr. Grififis writes. *' The historic 
page is rich in tableaux of her heroism, sacri- 
fice, wit, and wisdom." Many forms of social 
service were promoted by the women of old 
Japan. The first orphan asylum known to 
Japanese history was founded about 760 a. d. 



1 8 Education of Women in Japan 

by a woman, Wake Hiromushi. The Em- 
press Komyo (701-760) was not only " deeply 
versed in literature," but also " took special 
pains in works of charity." The Seyakuin, a 
hospital for the poor, and the Hiden-in, a 
home for the friendless, were both founded 
by her. " These two institutions were looked 
upon as of great importance as the years went 
on. At last they became the source of a pure 
system of charity." 

The Princess Masako was also a woman 
whom " the nation admired and respected " 
for her generous gifts to charity and religion. 
There is more than a suggestion of modern 
philanthropic methods in her way of helping 
the poor, by giving them little farms to culti- 
vate. 

Women were the chief promoters of reli- 
gion at this time. Remembering the seclusion 
of women in Japan only a very few years ago, 
it is almost impossible to realize that the com- 
mittee sent to India to investigate the Bud- 
dhist religion consisted of three women, 
Jenshinni, Jenzoni, and Keizenni. Buddhism 
and Confucianism owe their spread in Japan 
largely to the efforts of Japanese women. The 
Princess Masako gave her palace for a monas- 
tery and established a hospital for priests and 
nuns. The Gakwanin, a school for the teach- 



Education of Women in Old Japan 19 

ing of the sacred books of China, was founded 
by the Empress Tachibana, wife of the Em- 
peror Saga; and in the reigns of the ruling 
empresses of this period the first of the fa- 
mous temples of Nikko and the colossal image 
of Buddha at Nara were erected. Confucian- 
ism and Buddhism could never have estab- 
lished themselves so firmly in Japan without 
the aid of the women. 

Eight of Japan's ten ruling empresses 
reigned between 593 and 769 a. d. Dr. Grif- 
fis tells us that all of them " seem to have 
been fully equal to the average male occupant 
of the throne, while several of them were de- 
cidedly superior." " Altogether," he says, 
" this group of early empresses is noted for 
vigour and every name in it shines out clearly." 
Many of these women rulers were actively in- 
terested in arts, literature, architecture, and 
religion. Under their direction agriculture 
was encouraged, silver and copper money 
coined, the Kojiki (Records) and Nohungi 
(Chronicles) written, and the first tiled palace 
built. 

There seem to have been practically no 
limits to the activities of the women of these 
olden times. " In administration, as reigning 
Empresses, as Regents, as Dowager empresses, 
as court ladies in political intrigues, as re- 



20 Education of Women in Japan 

ligious devotees, even on the battlefield, women 
have played a conspicuous part in the ancient 
life as it comes down to us in history, litera- 
ture, and tradition." Such being their attain- 
ments, a prominent educator of modern Japan 
points out that "we can fairly believe that 
they were as well educated as men were, al- 
though there were not existing any institutions 
of instruction for women." 

The earnest efforts of the women to es- 
tablish Confucianism and Buddhism in their 
country were ill repaid: in increasing the in- 
fluences of these religions they were in fact 
diminishing the power of Japanese women. 
Mr. Porter tells us that " all writers on Japa- 
nese education attribute the relatively low 
position of women in that country for so long 
a period to the influence of Buddhist and Con- 
fucian teaching." 

The fact that both Confucius and Buddha 
assigned a low position to woman had a far- 
reaching effect upon the status of woman in 
Japan. During the feudal ages her life be- 
came gradually narrower, until, under the 
shogunate, her power had reached its lowest 
ebb. The result of Chinese influence upon her 
position is reflected in " The Great Learning 
for Women," a treatise prepared by Kaibara, 
a sage of the period of the Shoguns. 



Education of Women in Old Japan 21 

Confucius said, " Women are as different 
from men as earth is from heaven." " The 
Great Learning " reads : " We are told that it 
was the custom of the ancients, on the birth 
of a female child, to let it lie on the floor for 
the space of three days. Even in this may 
be seen the likening of the man to Heaven, 
and of the v^oman to earth; and the custom 
should teach a woman how necessary it is for 
her in everything to yield to her husband." 
In another place "The Great Learning" con- 
tains these reflections on the nature of woman. 
" The five worst maladies that afliict the fe- 
male mind are undoubtedly indocihty, dis- 
content, slander, jealousy, and silHness. These 
five maladies infest seven or eight out of 
every ten women, and it is from this that 
arises the inferiority of women to men. . . . 
Woman's nature is passive (literally shade). 
This passiveness, being of the nature of the 
night, is dark. . . . Such is the stupidity of 
her character that it is incumbent on her in 
every particular to distrust herself and to obey 
her husband." 

Confucius held that " it is a law of nature 
that woman should be kept under control of 
man, and not allowed any will of her own." 
** The Great Learning " teaches : " A woman 
. . . must serve him with all worship and 



22 Education of Women in Japan 

reverence, not despising or thinking lightly of 
him. The great life-long duty of a woman is 
obedience. ... A woman should look on her 
husband as if he were Heaven itself, and 
never weary of thinking how she may yield to 
her husband, and thus escape celestial casti- 
gation." 

The women rulers of the classical age had 
by their influence, gifts, and personal devotion 
done much for the promotion of religion in 
their country. But ** The Great Learning " 
taught that woman should not " enter into an 
irreverent familiarity with the gods, neither 
should she be constantly occupied in praying. 
If only she satisfactorily performs her duties 
as a human being, she may let prayer alone 
without ceasing to enjoy the divine protec- 
tion." 

In view of such estimates of the character 
and ability of women it was inevitable that lit- 
tle emphasis should be laid on woman's edu- 
cation at this time, and that such education 
as was given should be confined within narrow 
limits. Confucius declared, " The aim of fe- 
male education is perfect submission, not culti- 
vation and development of the mind," and 
Kaibara echoed, " The only qualities that befit 
a woman are gentle obedience, chastity, mercy, 
and quietness." 



Education of Women in Old Japan 23 

The very term commonly used for educa- 
tion at this time, Shitei no Kyoiku, " the edu- 
cation of the son and younger brother," indi- 
cated that women were not expected to have 
any part in intellectual pursuits. A recent 
historian has summed up the attitude of the 
period in these words : " Although the policy 
of the shogunate burdened poor woman with 
many cumbersome rules and trying restric- 
tions, yet it did little in elevating her char- 
acter and condition or improving her intellect. 
It established no schools for her, neither did 
it provide any means for her development. 
The general public was also apathetic as re- 
gards woman's education. The best which an 
ordinary girl could do was to have a few 
books taught at home, or to go to the terakoya 
(sewing school). ... A woman was gen- 
erally excluded from studying Chinese lit- 
erature, and seldom had the liberty of com- 
posing Chinese poems, because such studies 
were supposed to injure her materially by de- 
priving her of the time which might be em- 
ployed more usefully for her practical moral 
culture." 

The spirit of the times augmented the in- 
fluence of Chinese ideals in discouraging the 
education of wonien. It was a militant age, 
an age of warrior knights (daimyos), each 



24 Education of Women in Japan 

with his loyal band of equally warlike retain- 
ers (samurai). Scholarship was not highly 
prized for either men or women. The ideal 
for men was chivalry (Bushido) ; the ideal for 
women essentially domestic. " Domesticity 
guided their education," says Dr. Nitobe. " It 
may be said that the accomplishments of the 
women of Old Japan, be they martial or pa- 
cific in character, were mainly intended for 
the home, and however far they might roam 
they never lost sight of the hearth as the 
centre." 

The daughters of the knights received in- 
struction in reading, writing, poetry, Japanese 
literature, and, in some cases, Chinese. Train- 
ing was also given in etiquette, music, flower 
arrangement, the serving of the ceremonial 
tea, and incense burning. Many were also 
taught to ride horseback, fence, and handle 
the long sword or nagi-nata. There were no 
schools, so this instruction was given by pri- 
vate teachers who came to the homes. 

The daughters of the samurai were given 
much the same education, but as many samurai 
families could not afford to employ private 
tutors, their little girls usually went to a 
teacher's home. The priests and physicians 
seem to have done the major part of such 
teaching in the intervals of other duties; some- 




o 






by: 



Education of Women in Old Japan 25 

times a woman who had spent most of her 
life in service to some noble family would, on 
leaving her position, take a few girls for in- 
struction. 

The subjects studied by the little daughters 
of daimyos and samurai may seem to have 
had very little relation to each other; and at 
first sight it may be difficult to see any con- 
nection between the ability to ride a horse and 
use a sword and the domestic ideal of woman's 
education. But because it was a warhke time 
the domestic duties of women included some 
things which would not have been required 
of them in times of peace. " While fathers 
and husbands were absent in field or camp, 
the government of the household was left en- 
tirely in the hands of mothers and wives. The 
education of the young, even their defence, 
was entrusted to them. The warlike exer- 
cises of women, . . . were primarily to en- 
able them intelligently to direct and follow the 
education of their children." 

Miss Bacon gives an incident of her life in 
Japan which illustrates the fact that military 
service was often a very real part of the life 
of a Japanese woman. 

" Upon one occasion I was visiting a Japa- 
nese lady, who knew the interest that I took 
in seeing and procuring the old-fashioned em- 



26 Education of Women in Japan 

broidered kimonos, which are now entirely 
out of style in Japan, and which can only be 
obtained at second-hand clothing stores or 
private sales. My friend said that she had 
just been shown an assortment of old gar- 
ments which were offered at private sale by 
the heirs of a lady, recently deceased, who 
had once been a maid of honour in a daimyo's 
house. The clothes were still in the house, 
and were brought in, in a great basket, for 
my inspection. ... As we turned over the 
beautiful fabrics, a black broadcloth garment 
at the bottom of the basket aroused my 
curiosity, and I pulled it out and held it up 
for closer inspection. A curious garment it 
was, bound with white, and with a great white 
crest applique on the middle of the back. 
Curious white stripes gave the coat a military 
look, and it seemed appropriate rather to the 
wardrobe of some two-sworded warrior than 
to that of a gentlewoman of the old type. To 
the question, ' How did such a coat come to 
be in such a place?' the older lady of the 
company — one to whom the old days were 
still the natural order and the new customs an 
exotic growth — explained that the garment 
rightfully belonged in the wardrobe of any 
lady-in-waiting in a daimyo's house, for it was 
made to wear in case of fire or attack when the 



Education of Women in Old Japan 27 

men were away and the women were expected 
to guard the premises. Further search among 
the relics of the past brought to light the rest 
of the costume; silk hakama or full kilted 
trousers; a stiff, manlike black silk cap bound 
with a white band; and a spear cover of broad- 
cloth, with a great white crest upon it, like 
the one on the broadcloth coat. These made 
up the uniform which must be donned in time 
of need by the ladies of the palace or the castle 
for the defense of their lord's property. They 
had been folded away for twenty years among 
the embroidered robes, to come to light at last 
for the purpose of showing to a foreigner a 
phase of the old life that was so much a mat- 
ter of course to the older Japanese that it never 
occurred to them even to mention it to a 
stranger." 

The children of poorer people, merchants, 
farmers, artisans, etc., received much less edu- 
cation than those of the nobility and their re- 
tainers. The little girls in the cities often 
learned the elements of reading and writing, 
and sometimes spent much time on music and 
dancing, not infrequently becoming teachers 
of these subjects. In the country, however, 
life left little time for study of any kind, and 
even the most elementary education was un- 
usual. 



28 Education of Women in Japan 

As a result of the training they received, 
physical courage, unquestioning loyalty, and 
an almost unbelievable power of self-renuncia- 
tion characterized the w^omen of the warrior 
classes. They received few opportunities for 
mental development, and their activities were 
limited within very narrow social boundaries, 
but the force of character of not a few made 
them very real factors, not only in their homes 
but in the nation. '' Outwardly without the 
slightest power or influence," says Miss Tsuda, 
" we know women to have been the secret 
agents in political intrigues, even official mes- 
sengers of the feudal lords in cases where 
woman's wit, mingled with woman's reserve, 
served better than man's boldness and bravery." 
The victory of the great battle of Sekigahara 
is said to have been largely due to the quick 
action of the wife of one of the generals, who 
discovered the enemy's plan of attack, and 
succeeded in communicating it to her husband. 
At a later time a woman, Matsuo Tase, was 
one of the most active of the revolutionists 
who planned the overthrow of the shogunate 
and the restoration of the Emperor to power. 
Not content with giving her two sons to the 
revolutionary army, she herself performed a 
most difficult and dangerous service as a go- 
between in the correspondence among the revo- 



Education of Women in Old Japan 29 

lutlonary leaders. The part taken by samurai 
women in the defence of Wakamutsa Castle 
is well known to students of Japan's modern 
history, and it is said that the Marchioness 
Oyama, though but a little child at the time, 
can tell many a thrilling story of events in 
which she was no mere spectator. 

It would not be just to expect intellectual 
prowess in the women of an age like this. 
Yet there were some who proved themselves 
capable of notable achievements even along 
this line. 

Ono-no-tsu, who served in the household of 
the great general Nobunaga, and later in that 
of his successor Hideyoshi (sixteenth century), 
was a woman of much ability in both art and 
literature. She was a successful portrait 
painter, and has the honour of being the origi- 
nator of the form of song known as " Joruri," 
a story told in poetical language and set to 
music. 

The wife of Kaibara Ekken (seventeenth 
century), the author of " The Great Learning 
for Women,'* was an exceedingly able woman, 
and is said to have been of much assistance 
to her husband in his literary work. Some 
have even maintained that she herself was the 
author of '' The Great Learning." Another 
woman who lived at about the same time, 



30 Education of Women in Japan 

Otakasaka Isa, the wife of the most noted 
student of Chinese literature in that period, 
was the author of a treatise for women on 
education, etiquette, and similar subjects. The 
daughter of Bakin, Japan's most famous 
novelist, had no small share in her father's 
achievements. The latter part of his great 
book, " The Hakkenden," was dictated to her 
after he became blind, and the whole work 
was made complete by her. 

One of the well known historians of this 
period was a woman, Araki Rai. She was 
also noted for her poetry. Another writer of 
poetry was Inouye Tsu, who is said to have 
written remarkable poems while still a mere 
child. A diary which she kept on a journey 
to Yedo is perhaps the first book of travels 
written by a Japanese woman. It contains 
several interesting poems descriptive of the 
things she saw. Kago no Chiya was the origi- 
nator of a new style of short poem, and the 
author of many verses so familiar as to have 
become almost proverbial. Many of the lit- 
erary productions of the women of this period 
have been worthy to endure, and not a few 
are " vigorous in style, clear in thought, and 
indicate a wide acquaintance with litera- 
ture." 

S^udy for study's sake was not wholly un- 



Education of Women in Old Japan 31 

known even among the women of an age of 
chivalry. Matsuo Tase, of whom mention has 
already been made, when over fifty years old, 
an age at which most Japanese are inclined 
to consider active pursuits a thing of the past, 
became a student of Hirata Atsutane, one of 
the most famous scholars of the time. Her 
love of literature was so great that she was 
wiUing to part with a portion of her marriage 
dowry in order to possess a complete set of 
the works of Murasaki Shikibu, which were 
then very rare and expensive. Takashimo 
Bunho was another scholar of the nineteenth 
century. Miss Tsuda says, " She not only 
was highly learned, but was accomplished in 
all the feminine arts of her day. Six hundred 
women came to her as her pupils and disciples, 
and the powerful and learned court ladies from 
the palace of the Shogun begged instruction 
from her. The influence she had in her day 
was phenomenal." 

Such women were however exceptional, and 
it is noteworthy, as Miss Tsuda points out, 
that the few who achieved distinction were, 
in most cases, wives or daughters of Hterary 
men, who owed their environment far 
greater opportunities for study than the cus- 
toms and teachings of the time ordinarily per- 
mitted women. For the average woman of 



32 Education of Women in Japan 

feudal Japan educational privileges were few 
and limited, and, on the whole, at no time in 
the history of the Sunrise Kingdom has 
woman's life been so circumscribed as under 
the rule of the Shogun. 



II 



THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN EDU- 
CATION FOR WOMEN 

THE world has seldom seen so remark- 
able a transformation as that caused 
by Commodore Perry's insistent knock 
upon the closed door of Japan. A mediaeval 
nation, isolated, feudalistic, and unprogressive, 
suddenly threw open its doors to international 
intercourse, established a constitutional mon- 
archy, and set itself to achieve universal edu- 
cation and equality before the law for all 
citizens. The young Emperor Mutsuhito, 
(since his death called Meiji), who was re- 
stored from a nominal emperorship to a throne 
of actual power, proved to be a thoroughly 
progressive and broad-minded man, under 
whose guidance the new Japan soon began to 
be a reality. 

The spirit of "The Era of Enlighten- 
ment " was wholly favourable to the education 
of women. The first schools for girls were 
established by the missionaries with the sym- 
pathy, and often the cooperation, of the influ- 

33 



34 Education of Women in Japan 

ential Japanese. It was at the earnest request 
of an old Japanese physician, who wished his 
Httle grand-daughter to receive a modern edu- 
cation, that Mrs. Hepburn of the Dutch Re- 
formed Mission started in 1867 what was the 
nucleus of the first school for girls in Japan. 
A little group of five Japanese girls met with 
her, in her dining-room, until other duties 
made it necessary for her to give them into 
the care of Miss Kidder. Under Miss Kid- 
der's direction the little class grew to twenty- 
two members, and through the kindness of 
the Japanese governor of Yokohama Miss 
Kidder was able to secure quarters in the offi- 
cial section of the city. " The governor 
assisted me in many ways," she wrote later, 
" so that the school was no expense to the 
mission. Among other things, he presented 
me with a closed jinrikisha, remarking that 
the distance was too great for walking, and he 
would do himself the pleasure of giving me 
a conveyance." As this class grew, it became 
evident to Miss Kidder that the most valuable 
results could not be obtained in a day school, 
and in 1874, with the aid of the governor of 
Yokohama and the American consul, she ob- 
tained the piece of land on which was built 
the girls' boarding school, now known as 
Ferris Seminary. 



Beginnings of Modern Education 35 

The example set by Mrs. Hepburn and Miss 
Kidder was soon followed by many others. 
Within the twelve years following the or- 
ganization of Mrs. Hepburn's little class, girls' 
schools had been established by the Woman's 
Union, Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, 
Methodist, and Episcopalian missionary so- 
cieties. Yokohama, Tokyo, Kobe, Osaka, 
Kyoto, and Nagasaki each had one or 
more schools for girls under missionary aus- 
pices. 

The pioneers in Christian educational work 
for women in Japan did not wholly escape the 
prejudice and suspicion which in other Orien- 
tal countries had made the task of building 
up girls' schools so discouraging. A few years 
after the opening of Ferris Seminary the 
father of one of the girls from the interior 
presented himself at the school and asked if 
he might see the building. 

" His conduct seemed somewhat peculiar, 
for he wanted to be shown every nook and 
corner. Finally he addressed the [Japanese] 
matron in the most confidential manner, say- 
ing that he had been told by a Buddhist priest 
that foreigners at the school where his 
daughter was had been sent out from their 
country to obtain a very precious drug, which 
could only be obtained from the bodies of 



36 Education of Women in Japan 

Japanese girls; that it was very costly, and 
that was why they could put up such fine 
schools and take pupils at such low rates. 
* Tell me truly,' said he, * for you too are a 
Japanese; you must know of this, if it is true. 
Do these foreigners attach a machine to the 
bodies of the pupils while they sleep ? ' '* 

Stories such as this are, however, conspicu- 
ous by their rarity. The rapid growth of the 
great majority of the girls' schools of Japan 
proved that the cause of woman's education 
was regarded with genuine interest and ap- 
proval by many Japanese. 

The Kyoritsu Jo Gakko, established by the 
Woman's Union Missionary Society in 1871, 
outgrew its original home within three years, 
and it was necessary to erect a second building 
in 1874. 

The Congregational school in Kobe num- 
bered seventeen pupils within three weeks after 
the arrival of the missionaries who had it in 
charge. When, a year later, the erection of a 
building was commenced, many felt that the 
provision for thirty boarding pupils was much 
too large, and none doubted that it would be 
ample for years to come. But within three 
years after this building was opened, one of 
the teachers wrote, " Our school is as full as 
it can be, and several applicants must wait 



Beginnings of Modem Education 37 

till the new building is complete which is now 
going up." 

The growth of the Methodist school in 
Tokyo, which began work in a corner of an 
old temple, soon justified the purchase of a 
piece of ground on which a more suitable 
school home was built in 1877. A letter writ- 
ten less than a year after the new building was 
entered, reads : " We now have twenty-one 
girls in the school, and our dining-room has 
become too small. We are about to turn the 
room which was designed for our parlour into 
a sleeping-room for some of the girls, until 
such time as the society shall enable us to 
build larger." 

The Roman Catholic Christianity which was 
brought to Japan during the sixteenth century 
left behind it, because of its political character, 
an intense hatred of all things Christian, which 
was peculiarly strong in the part of the coun- 
try which had been most affected by the po- 
litical activities of the Jesuits. Nagasaki, 
which had been for several years the seat of 
Catholic power, was regarded as one of the 
most difficult fields for Christian work because 
of the deep prejudice against Christianity 
which had never died out. When, therefore, 
two young women of the Methodist Mission 
were sent there to establish a school for girls, 



38 Education of Women in Japan 

those " whose experience and observation gave 
weight to their opinions, were not tardy in ex- 
pressing their conviction that many years 
would pass before any Japanese in Nagasaki 
would consent to place a daughter in a Chris- 
tian school." The school opened with one 
girl, whose family lived outside of Nagasaki; 
but within less than four years, in spite of the 
publication of pamphlets and poems attacking 
the school and its teachers, there were over 
seventy pupils, thirty of whom were residents 
of Nagasaki, and it was reported that only 
lack of accommodation kept the number from 
being twice as great. 

Examples of the encouragingly rapid growth 
of the pioneer schools might be multiplied. 
It is interesting, too, to notice that in the ex- 
ceptional cases where growth was slow, the 
lack of success seemed to be largely due to 
the location of the school in a community 
composed mainly of poor people. Mrs. Blan- 
chet wrote from St. Margaret's School, 
Tokyo, in 1879: "Our girls' school opened a 
year ago, and there have been so many ob- 
stacles and annoyances of one kind or another 
to contend with in our efforts to increase the 
size of it, that we began to feel quite doubtful 
as to whether or not we could build it up at 
all in this neighbourhood, which is so un- 



Beginnings of Modern Education 39 

favourable to it, owing largely to our living 
among a poor class of people who are indif- 
ferent to the education of their children." 

The earliest pupils in the missionary schools 
for girls in China were homeless little waifs, 
or children from homes so poor that the par- 
ents were willing to let them go to the foreign 
schools because food and clothing were there 
supplied- No other girls could be secured. 
In the pioneer schools of Japan provision was 
made for orphans and children of the very 
poor, but, from the very first, daughters from 
families of wealth and influence were among 
the pupils. Mrs. Hepburn's class was started 
because of the desire of a physician to have his 
grand-daughter receive a foreign education, 
and the wife of the governor of Yokohama 
was a member of the school which grew out 
of that class. The young wife and little 
daughter of a man of high rank, who had been 
a daimyo in feudal Japan, were among the 
first pupils of the Congregational missionaries 
in Kobe; and in Osaka, one of the highest 
officials enrolled his daughter in the school of 
the same mission in its earliest days. 

Many schools were able from the beginning 
to meet at least a part of their expenses from 
school fees. A report of Ferris Seminary 
reads : " Boarders pay $3.00 and day scholars 



40 Education of Women in Japan 

$i.oo per month. The pupils furnish their 
clothing, bedding, books, and stationery; while 
rooms, fuel, lights, food, tuition, washing, and 
care of health are given them." " Pupils pay 
in whole or in part," reads an account of the 
Tokyo Presbyterian school in 1876. When 
the Kobe Congregational school was opened 
Miss Talcott wrote, " We have planned for 
twenty-five or thirty girls, and hope to be able 
to take them at three dollars a month." Of 
the forty-five girls in the Doshisha girls* 
school in Kyoto, in 1882, twenty-seven paid 
the entire amount of board and tuition and 
seven paid a part of their expenses. Very few 
schools were without some financial support 
from their pupils. 

Generous gifts to the schools were evidence 
of the interest and confidence of the people. 
Nearly $800 was given by Japanese for the 
first building of the school at Kobe, and the 
second building was more than half paid for 
by Japanese money. 

The Congregational missionaries at Osaka 
were strongly urged by the Japanese to es- 
tablish a girls' school in that city. A success- 
ful teacher in one of the government schools 
voluntarily offered to resign his position and 
give his services to such a school, and the 
members of the Congregational churches of 



Beginnings of Modern Education 41 

the city promised to assume all financial re- 
sponsibility for it, with the exception of the 
salaries of the missionaries. " We do not 
propose to call upon our friends for money," 
reads the first letter sent to America regarding 
the plan for this school. True to this promise 
money for buildings and running expenses 
was furnished wholly by the Japanese. 

Another Christian girls' school almost en- 
tirely supported by Japanese was the Sakurai- 
jo-gakko of Tokyo. In 1876, Mrs. Sakurai, 
an able Japanese woman, gathered a little 
group of girls into her home for study. For 
two years she and her husband, who aided 
her with both time and money, carried the 
work alone; but by 1878 the growth of the 
school was such that Mrs. Sakurai asked the 
Presbyterian Mission to cooperate with her. 
From this time on the school was partly sup- 
ported by the mission; but Mr. and Mrs. 
Sakurai continued their interest and help, and 
Mrs. Sakurai remained the principal until re- 
moval to Osaka made it necessary for her to 
give up the work. 

The course of study in the Christian schools 
was necessarily simple at first. The little class 
of day pupils which developed into the Kobe 
Congregational school began with a two-hour 
session. " We open with singing and prayer 



42 Education of Women in Japan 

in Japanese," Miss Talcott wrote; "then give 
an hour or more to English reading and con- 
versation, closing with Old Testament stories 
in Japanese and another hymn." " The Peep 
of Day " was used as a Reader. 

The curricula of the boarding schools could 
be much broader. Ferris Seminary reported 
in 1875, " The branches taught are the com- 
mon school branches in English, with as much 
of Chinese and Japanese as is indispensable 
to educated women." In the same year the 
girls of the Tokyo Presbyterian school were 
studying '' natural philosophy, history, physi- 
ology, moral science, grammar, arithmetic, 
geography, English conversation, and composi- 
tion, etc." 

The work of the pioneer schools was in- 
evitably done under serious disadvantages. 
" When the work was commenced in 1871," 
reads a report of the Kyoritsu Jo Gakko of 
Yokohama, " no ' Readers ' or other school 
books had been translated into the Japanese 
language." Moreover, many of the women in 
charge of the schools had had no opportunity 
to learn Japanese before beginning school 
work, and were therefore greatly hampered. 
Nothing could be much more unsatisfactory 
than teaching done through an interpreter, but 
some of the teachers were forced to use this 




X 



Beginnings of Modern Education 43 

method in the early days. Mrs. Carrothers 
wrote in 1875, " ^^ teach by means of trans- 
lators, the foreign teacher giving the pronun- 
ciation only, and the Japanese giving the 
translation and explanation." Word came 
from this school four years later, " This 
work could be enlarged greatly if . . . these 
ladies could give more time to studying 
the language, and thus largely increase their 
usefulness." 

As the schools developed, however, the work 
was graded and much more satisfactory re- 
sults were possible. In 1882 the Congrega- 
tional school at Osaka reported the graduation 
of four girls, who had completed a four 
years' course, and at the same time the school 
of the same mission in Kyoto announced the 
graduation of eight girls who had also finished 
a four years' course. Girls from these schools 
who wished to continue their studies went to 
the Kobe school, which at this time had a 
preparatory course of three years, and five 
years of " seminary studies." This school 
graduated a class of twelve girls in 1882, all 
of them professing Christians. An article on 
the Kobe school in the Hiogo Nezvs of 
December, 1882, makes the following state- 
ment regarding the course of study followed 
at this time. " Teaching is carried on both in 



44 Education of Women in Japan 

Japanese and English, and it will be noticed 
. . . what great proficiency some of the pupils 
have attained in the alien language. The 
school course extends over five years, and in 
addition to the usual elementary branches, em- 
braces Chinese, Japanese, and general history, 
the history of civilization, algebra, geometry, 
natural and mental philosophy, and composi- 
tion." 

" The field of woman's education was 
opened up and tilled by missionaries," Pro- 
fessor Fujisawa of the Imperial University 
stated in a recent address. But the example 
of missionary educators, and the knowledge 
of the importance attached to woman's educa- 
tion in other countries, soon stimulated the 
progressive government of the new Japan to 
make provision for the education of the 
women of the nation. General Kuroda, head 
of the Colonial Department, was greatly im- 
pressed, during two brief visits to America, 
with the influence exerted by the women of 
the United States. His conviction that their 
strength and ability were the results of their 
education, led him to write a letter to his 
government emphasizing the importance of 
education in connection with the colonization 
of the wilder parts of Japan. To send igno- 
rant men into these new colonies would be a 



Beginnings of Modern Education 45 

great mistake, he said, and therefore the edu- 
cation of women was of primary importance 
since the training of children under ten years 
was entirely entrusted to them. He main- 
tained that to educate women was to elevate 
the whole nation. He reminded the govern- 
ment that young men had been sent abroad for 
study with very satisfactory results, and ex- 
pressed his strong belief that the time had now 
come to send a delegation of young women 
to America for education. The government 
adopted this suggestion, and in 1871 five 
young girls, ranging in age from eight to fif- 
teen, were authorized to go tO' the United 
States, there to be educated at the expense of 
their government. Before they left they were 
summoned to the capital and, in accordance 
with an old custom, each was given a piece of 
beautiful crimson crepe, in token of the Em- 
peror's good will. 

The Emperor indicated his sympathy with 
efforts to promote woman's education by his 
declaration, " Females hitherto have had no 
position socially, because it was considered that 
they were without understanding; but if edu- 
cated and intelligent they should have due 
respect." Marquis Ito, a member of the 
World's Embassy, in whose party these first 
Japanese women students travelled to America, 



46 Education of Women in Japan 

speaking in San Francisco upon their arrival, 
expressed the sentiments of the leading men 
of Japan in the words : " By educating our 
women we hope to insure greater intelligence 
in future generations. With this end in view 
our maidens have already commenced to come 
to you for their education." 

Upon their arrival in America these little 
girls were entrusted to the care of the Japa- 
nese minister in Washington, Mr. Mori, to 
whom was given the responsibility of decid- 
ing where and how they should receive their 
education. Mr. Mori was primarily eager that 
his wards might become acquainted with the 
home life of the United States, that their 
minds might be " fully stored with all the 
kinds of information which will make them 
true ladies." He was successful in finding de- 
sirable homes for them, and the results of their 
life in America were all that could be desired. 
The two oldest girls did not remain long 
enough to go through college, but of the other 
three, two graduated from Vassar, one of them 
being president of her class in her senior year, 
and the other attended Bryn Mawr. One is 
now the Marchioness Oyama, one the wife of 
Admiral Uriu, and the third. Miss Ume Tsuda, 
is the founder and principal of the English 
Institute for Girls in Tokyo. 



Beginnings of Modern Education 47 

In September, 1871, the Department of Edu- 
cation was first established, and in September 
of the following year the Educational Code 
was issued. That the education of women was 
included in the plans of the Department is 
shown in the Preamble, which stated : '' It is 
intended that henceforth universally (without 
any distinction of class or sex) in a village 
there shall be no home without learning, and 
in a house no individual without learning. . . . 
(As for higher learning, that depends upon 
the capacity of individuals, but it shall be re- 
garded as a neglect of duty on the part of 
fathers or elder brothers, should they fail to 
send young children to elementary schools 
without distinction of sex.) '' 

At the close of 1873, 28 per cent, of the 
children of school age were attending the 
12,588 elementary schools which had been es- 
tablished. One-third of the pupils were girls. 

In 1872 the first school for girls under the 
auspices of the government was established 
in Tokyo. This was known as the Tokyo 
Female School, and offered a six years' course 
to girls who wished to pursue their studies 
beyond the elementary school. '' Fourteen to 
seventeen hours a week in reading, mathe- 
matics, penmanship, composition, dictation, 
English, industrial arts, music, and gymnastics 



48 Education of Women in Japan 

were given." A preparatory course of two 
years was also offered. 

During the same year a girls* school was 
established by the local government of the 
Fu of Kyoto, and within the next five years 
similar schools were established in the Ken 
of Kagashima, Yamanashi, Tokushima, Gifu, 
and Tochigo. 

The first normal school for women was 
opened on November 30th, 1875. The Empress, 
the Minister of the Interior, the Vice Minister 
of Education, and other dignitaries manifested 
their interest and approval by being present at 
the opening exercises. The Empress made an 
address on this occasion, in which she ex- 
pressed the hope that she might " eventually 
see the beautiful fruit of female education 
appear in profusion throughout the whole of 
the land." In 1877 the Tokyo Female School 
was incorporated in this normal school. 

The year 1877 marks the beginning of a 
temporary decline in the interest felt in 
woman's education, and indeed in education 
in general. The Educational Code of 1872 
had instituted such radical changes that a 
reaction was not surprising. Moreover, the 
depleted condition of the treasury at this time 
led to retrenchment along many lines, and 
especially in the educational department. An 



Beginnings of Modern Education 49 

American newspaper published in Tokyo 
spoke in strong terms of the effect of this re- 
actionary step. " Many of the most promis- 
ing schools have been dispersed, and no ar- 
rangements for their revival, under either 
native or foreign guidance, have been pos- 
sible. The element from which some of the 
finest results were anticipated — that of the cul- 
ture of young women — has faded almost out 
of sight. It is probably within the limit to 
say that the efficiency of the department is less 
than half what it was a year ago. And this 
is not precisely on account of the mere fact 
of money withdrawn, but because of the loss 
of prestige, and the abrupt derangement of 
plans, the successful execution of which re- 
quired a steady and persistent evolution and 
a sustained encouragement at all times from 
the highest sources of authority." 

In 1879 ^ decree was issued, doing away 
with compulsory education. It was soon evi- 
dent, however, that this was unwise and in 
1880 education was again made compulsory, 
and the time was lengthened from sixteen 
months to three years. Within the next few 
years several girls' schools were established, 
and in 1883 there were seven public high 
schools for girls with a registration of 350. 

On the whole, modern education for women 



50 Education of Women in Japan 

in Japan, whether under missionary or gov- 
ernment auspices, had a beginning which gave 
good ground for assurance of its complete ulti- 
mate success, whatever problems and vicissi- 
tudes later years might bring. 



Ill 

POPULARITY AND REACTION 

ENCOURAGING as was the interest 
manifested in woman's education in the 
early days of the new Japan, the en- 
thusiasm of " the eighties " was a surprise 
even to the most optimistic. In every part of 
Japan Christian girls' schools grew with al- 
most disconcerting rapidity. Graham Semi- 
nary, Tokyo, reported in 1888 that sixty girls 
were refused admission in a single term, and 
Miss Watson, of the Tokyo Methodist school, 
wrote in the same year, " We cannot take an- 
other girl, though they come every day. When 
we say we have no room they ask, * When will 
you have? Please put our names down and 
send us word when we can come.' " 

The fourteen pupils who were enrolled in 
the Osaka Presbyterian school at its beginning 
in January, 1887, had increased to nearly 
seventy by the end of April, and inquiries re- 
garding the work of the school were so nu- 
merous as to make it necessary to hang a sign 
on the outside of the building stating that 

51 



52 Education of Women in Japan 

visitors could be received on only two days a 
week. Several families moved into the neigh- 
bourhood of the school from distant parts of 
the city, in order that their daughters might 
be enrolled among its students. The Congre- 
gational school of the same city, which had an 
enrolment of sixty-five in 1885, reported 236 
in 1887 and 368 in 1888. Everywhere the 
story was the same. " The school closed a year 
ago this last spring with eighty scholars," Miss 
Wainwright wrote from Kyoto, " and through 
the summer we had a new school building 
built; but the first day of the fall term it was 
too small, as 140 came." Kobe College was 
reported full to overflowing in 1883, and the 
addition built in 1884 proved so inadequate 
that it was necessary to rent a nearby house 
in 1885. Two years later Miss Searle wrote 
that they were cramped and crowded in every 
way, and were forced steadily to refuse ad- 
mission to " girls who were ready to pay 
every cent of board and tuition." Again a 
new building was erected, and again the addi- 
tional space was soon shown to be so inade- 
quate that the Japanese friends of the school 
raised money to purchase another piece of 
land and erect a new dormitory. 

Examples might be multiplied to show how, 
in spite of enlarged equipment, the schools 



Popularity and Reaction 53 

were wholly unable to keep pace with the de- 
mands made upon them. Even in the part of 
Japan where prejudice against Christianity 
had been strongest the missionaries were 
overwhelmed with applications for admission 
to existing schools, and requests that new ones 
be established. The Methodist school in Naga- 
saki was full to overflowing, and at the ur- 
gent request of the people of neighbouring 
cities several new schools were established. 
The people of Fukuoka, a city of about 60,000 
inhabitants, promised Miss Gheer that if she 
would open a school for girls there she might 
have perfect freedom to teach Christianity, 
and they guaranteed her seventy pupils at 
once. In 1887 it was reported that this school 
was in successful operation, and was " com- 
posed of the girls and women of the samurai, 
the most intelligent class in Japan." 

Miss Watson wrote from Tokyo in 1886: 
" There is a call for a girls' school in Sendai, 
the third largest city in the empire, . . . also 
at Nagoya, the fourth largest city. In these 
two places no scholarships would be required; 
only a foreign lady to organize and superin- 
tend the school. The people who live there 
are among the wealthier or samurai class." 
A later letter tells of a similar urgent plea 
from Yonezawa, whose people offered to fur- 



54 Education of Women in Japan 

nish a building, and meet all the running ex- 
penses of the school, if only a foreign teacher 
would come. 

An account of the establishment of the Con- 
gregational girls' school at Niigata gives 
striking evidence of the eagerness for educa- 
tion of Japanese girls themselves, and shows 
the attitude of the leading men toward woman's 
education. "A year and a half ago, several 
of the most liberal minded gentlemen of this 
city resolved to make the attempt to start a 
girls' school in Niigata. In this province 
female education has been, hitherto, not only 
neglected, but even, in some instances, dis- 
couraged by most violent measures, — an in- 
stance of which is a series of tragedies which 
occurred in a neighbouring city. Soon after 
the subject of a girls' school began to be agi- 
tated in that city, itself really an educational 
centre from which progressive movements 
might be expected to start, four young ladies 
banded themselves together in the firm resolve 
to obtain an education or die in the attempt, 
each one binding herself by a solemn vow that 
in event of her failing to obtain her relatives' 
consent, after a prolonged and earnest effort, 
she would commit suicide. After vainly for 
several months presenting their requests for 
education, two of the petitioners fulfilled their 



Popularity and Reaction 55 

vows. The third was driven, by severe per- 
secutions, into temporary insanity. The fourth 
is now in this city, enjoying an education 
which had been procured at such terrible cost. 
Such was the feeling toward female education 
when our school had begun to exist only in 
the hearts and thoughts of a few men who had 
the gift of looking into the future. 

" The first attempt to start a school failed ; 
funds could not be raised; parents were not 
prepared to send their daughters to school, and 
especially to a school whose principal and 
several of whose founders were Christians. 
But the movement whose beginning seemed 
so inauspicious slowly grew in favour, and in 
May, 1887, the school was actually started 
under the patronage of the governor, vice- 
governors, chief justices, and other most in- 
fluential men of the province, who assumed 
the financial support of the school, giving 
largely themselves, and raising much money by 
travelling through the province and soliciting 
gifts. ... A new school building has already 
become an imperative necessity, and a dormi- 
tory was quite essential. The necessary funds, 
about 3000 yen, were pledged by the Japanese, 
of which 2500 yen have already been paid in." 

The willingness of the Japanese to meet the 
expenses of schools for girls, was one of the 



56 Education of Women in Japan 

most encouraging evidences of the favour with 
which woman's education was regarded. 

" We would emphasize this fact," Dr. De 
Forest wrote in an urgent appeal for more 
missionaries, " that you are not now asked to 
build and furnish schoolhouses, supply native 
teachers, pay annual deficiencies, etc., but sim- 
ply to furnish and support lady teachers to 
work with sympathetic Japanese in giving the 
girls of Japan a Christian education. The 
ripe opportunity consists in this, — that not 
only Christian churches, but non-Christian 
philanthropists are looking to Christianity as 
the only force they know of that will lift 
woman out of her ignorance and degradation 
and enable her to exert such an influence in 
the home as the women of Christian lands do." 

Free scholarships became almost wholly un- 
necessary. " They are only admitting such 
new ones as can pay their way," a visitor 
to the Nagasaki Methodist school reported in 
1884. Miss Hampton wrote from Hakodate 
in 1888, " Since last September we have ad- 
mitted no girls to be supported by the school. 
Then we received one who had been promised 
a place a year before." Board and tuition in 
the Osaka Presbyterian school was sixty dol- 
lars a year, but an account of the school re- 
ported that this rate, " though higher than in 



Popularity and Reaction 57 

similar schools in the city, instead of repelling 
pupils, had drawn them from the highest 
classes in society." 

The personnel of the schools was also cause 
for encouragement. From the Nagasaki 
Methodist school Miss Everding wrote of the 
pupils in the day school department, '' The 
pleasing feature about these day scholars is 
that they are the daughters of Nagasaki mer- 
chants, who, a few years ago, would not think 
of sending a daughter to any school, much less 
a Christian one. We have had several such 
applications from the city of Nagasaki, and 
from surrounding places." Requests for new 
schools came largely from the influential 
samurai class. Many official families were 
represented in the schools. " Among our num- 
ber are the wives and daughters of several 
officials, and the daughter of a Buddhist 
priest," reads the first annual report of the 
Congregational school in Niigata. Miss Colby 
of the Congregational school of Osaka wrote : 
" The city is divided into four parts, for easier 
government, and the mayor of our fourth part 
sends his two daughters, the governor of the 
Osaka Fu sends an adopted daughter, and 
about every office and condition of life under 
that is represented in the school. We have 
never sought the higher classes, but they have 



58 Education of Women in Japan 

sent their daughters, after careful official in- 
spection." The nine-year-old daughter of the 
governor of Morioka was a member of the 
Hakodate Methodist school, and among those 
enrolled in the Tokyo Presbyterian school 
were " children from some of the best families 
in the city, . . . such as those of Arimori 
Mori, of the Imperial Cabinet, in charge of 
the Department of Education." 

Prominent men manifested their approval 
of the Christian schools for girls in numer- 
ous ways. Miss Benton wrote of a judge of 
Yokohama who, when asked whether a vacant 
house belonging to him could be rented for a 
school, not only gave a lease for the building 
but offered, if the school prospered, to build a 
house particularly for it. Professor Toyama, 
a professor in the Imperial University, pub- 
lished articles in the Japan Weekly Mail, 
strongly emphasizing the fundamental impor- 
tance of woman's education, and expressing 
the belief that Christian missionaries were the 
best possible teachers for Japanese girls. 
" What is wanted," he wrote, " is that female 
education should be undertaken by European 
and American ladies. Nothing short of such 
contact and association can accomplish a radi- 
cal reform in the character of Japanese women. 
But it is evident that Japan cannot afford to 



Popularity and Reaction 59 

send her girls abroad to be educated, or to 
employ a sufficient number of foreign ladies 
in her schools. Her best hope lies in Chris- 
tian missionaries." One of the very interest- 
ing indications of the interest felt in Chris- 
tian schools was a visit paid to the Mary L. 
Colby School by a special messenger of the 
Emperor, sent because of the impression made 
upon His Majesty by the appearance of the 
students of this school whom he had seen on 
the streets. 

Closely akin to the interest in Occidental 
education for girls was the desire that mar- 
ried women, whose home duties prevented 
them from becoming regular pupils in a 
school, might nevertheless have an opportunity 
to learn the language and accomplishments of 
American and English women. Largely 
through the instrumentality of Professor 
Toyama, a " Ladies' Institute " was established 
in Osaka in 1887. The work was financially 
supported by prominent men of the city, and 
more than a hundred women, the wives and 
daughters of officials, professional men, bank- 
ers, and merchants, were soon studying Eng- 
lish, foreign sewing, and fancy work under 
the guidance of English and American mis- 
sionaries. 

A class of sixty women, the majority of 



6o Education of Women in Japan 

whom were the wives of officials, met with 
Miss Davis of Kobe each afternoon to study 
English. Practically all of these women also 
devoted an hour each afternoon to Bible study 
under Miss Davis' direction. Miss Milliken 
conducted a similar class of forty women in 
Tokyo. "As you know," Miss Milliken 
wrote, " young Japan is all alive on the sub- 
ject of the ' education of women,' just now, 
and many of the progressive young men in 
the capital are eager to send their wives to 
school. These young wives and mothers from 
Bancho families are a class of people we have 
long been anxious to reach. They come from 
nine to twelve, and study the Bible and Eng- 
lish. I never saw more enthusiastic pupils, nor 
did livelier teaching." A letter written shortly 
after this told of a society of about twenty 
women, mainly wives and daughters of offi- 
cials, who had organized for the purpose of 
" learning foreign housekeeping and man- 
ners." 

The adoption of European costume by the 
Empress, and her proclamation to the women 
of Japan recommending them to follow her 
example, caused an amusing demand for in- 
struction in all things pertaining to foreign 
feminine apparel. Their Majesties' visit to 
Osaka created much excitement among the 




b/) 



ZL 



U 



Popularity and Reaction 6i 

upper class women, who were all eager to wel- 
come the Empress in the style of dress which 
she had recommended, and for a time the mis- 
sionaries were almost overwhelmed with calls 
from those in search of knowledge regarding 
foreign clothes. *' We show them all our 
things," said Mrs. Gulick, '' from our best bon- 
net to our least article of underwear, give 
them patterns, and show them how to put the 
garments together, ... try on and fit and 
alter and baste, and teach them how to sew 
the seams, how to use the sewing machine, 
make button holes, etc." The wearing of for- 
eign clothes proved almost as difficult as the 
making of them. " The women had to be 
taught from the very foundation of every- 
thing, even to walk in their new shoes." Miss 
Daughaday wrote of being requested to visit 
a government school the day before the Im- 
perial party was expected, that she might 
dress all the women teachers in their new cos- 
tumes, and thus ensure the correctness of every 
detail. 

In view of the intense interest in all things 
Occidental at this time, it was but natural that 
the enthusiasm for woman's education should 
have been most strongly felt by the Christian 
schools which were in charge of Western 
women. Government and public schools for 



62 Education of Women in Japan 

girls were indeed prosperous during this 
period, but they do not seem to have experi- 
enced any such sudden and conspicuous in- 
crease of popularity as that which almost 
exhausted the resources of all mission 
schools. 

It is perhaps not surprising that this period 
of extreme popularity was succeeded by a time 
of reaction. A spirit of conservatism began 
to manifest itself during the latter part of the 
decade, and the education of women was one 
of the first points of attack. 

A marked decrease of attendance in the mis- 
sion schools gave convincing evidence of a 
change of attitude. No longer did the teach- 
ers write of overcrowded conditions, and the 
necessity of turning away eager applicants. 
Instead, reports contained such items as these : 
" The number in attendance at this school has 
not been so great as last year. . . . This de- 
crease in numbers has been noted in all the 
mission schools in Tokyo." " Like the other 
schools, the one in Kyoto has been smaller 
in numbers during the year." " The reaction 
against woman's education still continues," 
etc. A stationary record was the best that 
could be hoped for. " Summer vacation is 
over," wrote Miss Milliken of the Presby- 
terian mission in Tokyo, " and school has 



Popularity and Reaction 63 

opened with just about the same number of 
pupils we had last year. This is as much as 
we could expect." 

Many of those who permitted their daugh- 
ters to attend the schools were not willing to 
have them spend any considerable length of 
time in acquiring an education. An article in 
Life and Light for Women in 1893 reads : 
*' Many of our most promising pupils, within 
a year or two of graduation, have been taken 
from school to spend six months or more in 
learning housekeeping, as a preparation for 
a very early marriage. The parents were 
abundantly able to support them at school." 
From the Tsukiji Methodist school of Tokyo, 
Miss Spencer wrote: ''The class of 1891 
numbered seventeen ... of whom five were 
paying pupils, and twelve on scholarships. . . . 
Only one of the paying scholars continued her 
studies at Aoyama. This will show the re- 
cent reaction in sentiment regarding woman's 
education." The annual report of the Con- 
gregational school in Kyoto for 1892 showed 
the strength of the protest against advanced 
education in that part of the country. '' The 
growing sentiment among our patrons that 
the course of study was too long for the girls 
who do not intend to become teachers led to 
the adoption of a new course in the spring of 



64 Education of Women in Japan 

1892, which yields to this demand by cutting 
down the old preparatory and regular courses 
each one year." 

The friendliness of those in authority, which 
had been so cordial during the eighties, was 
much less marked in the following decade. 
" We have not been called upon this year by 
so large a number of government officials as 
usual," Miss Daughaday wrote from Osaka. 
" This is due, no doubt, to a reaction in the 
sentiment of the people against foreigners and 
foreign customs. The conservative element is 
more outspoken than it has been for many 
years." The lack of cordiality of the govern- 
ment was illustrated at an educational exhibit 
in Nagasaki. Miss Russell sent samples of 
the work done by students in the Methodist 
school, but although her exhibit was given 
space, the government did not award it a prize, 
since it did not recognize mission schools. 
Rival efforts of Japanese educators seemed in 
some cases to proceed from a spirit of opposi- 
tion. A letter from Miss Gunnison of Kyoto 
reads, " One of the leaders in educational cir- 
cles has set himself to destroy our school if 
possible, and with this end in view he has 
started another school for girls quite near us; 
and among his pupils are girls who would 
come to us had he not prejudiced them against 



Popularity and Reaction 65 

Christianity when they were in the school of 
which he is principal." 

Even the Japanese workers in the schools 
were not wholly free from a spirit of antag- 
onism. From Fukuoka Miss Leeds wrote, 
" The feeling existing in school last June, 
when we closed, was not the most pleasant, 
and during vacation we felt sure that no im- 
provement in that direction had been made." 
" It is rather hard for a foreigner to get near 
to Japanese girls these later years," wrote 
Miss Parmalee of Maebashi. " Connected 
with some schools are those who do not want 
the foreigner to have too much or close in- 
fluence over Japanese girls, supposing that 
Japanese know best how to deal with Japa- 
nese." 

Purely Japanese schools did not, however, 
escape the effects of the reaction. A report 
issued by the Department of Education calls 
attention to the decline in woman's education 
during this period, explaining it as " owing 
partly to well-grounded censure, and partly 
from mere doubt arising from sentiment in 
regard to the results of such education." In 
1893 the Minister of Education admitted that 
woman's education was " exposed to the con- 
tinual vicissitudes of the times," and was " not 
yet as firmly established as that of the males. 



66 Education of Women in Japan 

Thus," reads his report, " there is as yet no 
equality between the sexes." Two years later 
statistics give the number of government and 
public schools for girls as only fourteen. 

The education of women was a favourite 
topic of discussion in the newspapers at this 
time, and many were the scathing criticisms 
of the students in the girls' schools. One 
Japanese journal expressed its opinion of the 
educated woman by a cartoon representing 
her as " a stalwart, overdressed frump ; with 
ill-fitting frock, a profusion of ornaments, and 
a vulgar self-asserting demeanour; altogether 
a most unpleasing ensemble." Another paper, 
the Yomhiri Shimbiru, published a series of 
articles maintaining that the system of edu- 
cation followed in government and private 
schools was responsible for vanity, extrava- 
gance, frivolity, and lack of refinement in the 
young women of the time. The Jiji Shimpo 
devoted a leading article to a lament over the 
decay of good manners in women students. 
" The usages of female life and deportment 
have one after another been dispensed with," 
it maintained, " and the modern girl in her 
attempt to imitate foreign manners has almost 
transformed herself into a man." The schools 
in Tokyo were censured with especial severity, 
and accused of permitting their students to do 



Popularity and Reaction 67 

things hitherto unknown among the women 
of Japan, such as living alone in lodging 
houses, walking unattended in the streets af- 
ter dark, visiting tea houses without chap- 
eronage, etc. 

These articles and others like them were 
much exaggerated and drew forth answering 
letters of protest from the less conservative; 
but it is probable that they fairly represent 
the attitude of many people. Certain it is that 
the highly-coloured stories in many of the ar- 
ticles led parents in the country districts to 
make haste to remove their daughters from the 
city schools. 

It is to be noted that the government and 
private Japanese schools were by no means 
exempt from this criticism. As a matter 
of fact, many of the things which were most 
severely condemned had never been true of 
Christian schools. If young Japanese women 
students lived alone in lodging houses, walked 
in the streets after dark, and attended tea 
houses, they were not members of Christian 
schools. Girls whose homes were outside the 
city were not admitted to these schools unless 
they could be cared for in the school dormi- 
tories, and the most careful supervision was 
given them both in and out of school hours. 
Nor had the missionary schools had any desire 



68 Education of Women in Japan 

to have their students adopt Western fashions. 
Such efforts as were made in this direction 
were in the purely Japanese schools. " The 
Tokyo Female Normal School led the way in 
inaugurating the change in the matter of hair- 
dressing by obliging its students to dress their 
hair after the foreign style. The Nobles' 
School for girls drew up certain rules as to 
foreign clothing. The Tokyo Higher Girls' 
School changed the subject matter of its les- 
sons in housekeeping, basing them on the 
Western style, with the single exception of 
sewing ; while in Kyoto women in general were 
indirectly forbidden to shave their eyebrows 
or blacken their teeth." 

It was to be expected, however, that the 
Christian schools should suffer most from this 
anti-foreign reaction. As, a few years before, 
their popularity had exceeded that of the 
purely Japanese schools, because they were 
conducted by foreigners ; so now, for the same 
reason, they received the greater condemna- 
tion. 

It must be admitted also that while many 
of the criticisms to which the mission schools 
were subjected were undeserved, others were 
such as to be worthy of thoughtful considera- 
tion. 

The complaint that their course of study 



Popularity and Reaction 69 

resulted in the too great Westernization of 
their pupils was probably not entirely un- 
founded. It must not be forgotten, however, 
that instruction in all things Occidental had 
been insistently demanded by the Japanese dur- 
ing the eighties. There was perhaps also some 
justice in the accusation that the graduates 
of these schools did not know how to accom- 
plish the ordinary domestic duties of a Japa- 
nese home. " The girls are away from home 
so long that complaints have come up that 
they are becoming so foreignized that they 
do not know how to take up the duties of a 
Japanese matron," Dr. Root wrote from the 
Kobe Congregational school. " It has vir- 
tually been decided, and with reason, we think, 
that Japanese cooking, Japanese flower ar- 
rangement, and Japanese etiquette must be 
taught as extras in the school." The annual 
report of the Kyoto school, in 1891, showed 
a recognition of a similar need. It read: 
" Perhaps if our schools included in their 
curriculum some things which pertain more 
closely to Japanese home life, . . . such as 
etiquette, bouquet making, cooking, and the 
like ... it might make some difference." 
The addition of purely Japanese subjects to the 
curricula of many Christian, schools at this 
time indicates that the missionaries were not 



70 Education of Women in Japan 

indifferent to the charge that they were edu- 
cating their students '' out of their sphere." 

The testimony of a girl whose education 
had been received in one of these schools is, 
however, worthy of note in this connection. 
Miss Hido Yagashira, a graduate of the Kobe 
Congregational school, referring to such criti- 
cisms, made the following statement in an ad- 
dress given while studying in America. " I 
can assure you I did not have any better ac- 
commodation at school than I had always 
been accustomed to at home. On the con- 
trary there were many things I was obliged 
to do there which I never did at home, be- 
cause we always had maids to look after us. I 
was not an exceptional case. I did not come 
from a so-called wealthy family at all. It 
seems to me it takes far more than any mission 
school can afford in the line of luxury to 
spoil a girl and unfit her for domestic duties." 

After all, the utmost wisdom on the part 
of those in educational work for women, both 
foreign and Japanese, could hardly have pre- 
vented some measure of reaction from the 
early popularity of the new education. It 
was not to be expected that the older people, 
especially those in the country districts, should 
keep pace with the young people in the city 
schools. Doubtless few parents of any coun- 



Popularity and Reaction 71 

try would have found it possible to keep up 
with the young person who wrote an essay on 
the subject '' Whom shall we obey? " in which 
she announced : " We cannot obey our parents, 
as they are ignorant. We cannot obey our 
teachers, as they may be mistaken; so we must 
think of everything deeply and follow our own 
opinion." But even in the many cases where 
reverence for parent and teacher was by no 
means lacking, where there was the most 
earnest desire to hold fast that which was 
good, friction was inevitable. Mr. Naruse, 
well known in educational circles in Japan, has 
stated the situation clearly: 

" Girls who had received a modern educa- 
tion necessarily became broader in their ideas 
and more independent in their spirit. Their 
parents, however, who had been brought up in 
the old ways could not always appreciate and 
sympathize with the new ideas of their 
daughters, and a collision of ideas was often 
seen, so strong as to seriously endanger the 
peace of the home. Although there were 
shortcomings on the part of the girls which 
led to unnecessary home troubles, yet conflict 
between the old ideas and the new in such a 
period of transition as our country had under- 
gone could not possibly be avoided. The un- 
enlightened public, however, was unable to 



72 Education of Women in Japan 

understand this situation, and saw in it only 
the evils of modern education. They thought 
that education would make women creatures 
of self-importance, full of affectation and 
conceit and of one-sided development. It was 
also thought that education would destroy the 
beautiful ideals of Japanese womanhood. 
Thus, the feeling against the education of 
girls rose to a high point." 

Such a situation is not without parallel. 
The objections urged against woman's educa- 
tion at this time remind one strongly of those 
formerly heard in America and England. 
Nor was this period of reaction so disastrous 
as it at first appeared. It has been justly ob- 
served that " criticism prunes the educational 
tree, but does not cut it down." 



IV 



THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS FOR 
GIRLS TO-DAY 

THE years immediately following the 
close of Japan's war with China were 
marked by a renewal of interest in the 
education of women. Marquis Saionji, 
Minister of Education at that time, was a firm 
believer in the necessity of woman's educa- 
tion, and under his direction the government 
began to lay greater emphasis than at any 
previous time upon the establishment of 
schools for girls. Christian schools for girls, 
too, which had almost become accustomed to 
being criticised or ignored, now found them- 
selves the objects of friendly interest on the 
part of many of Japan's most influential men. 
Many letters from missionary teachers 
written during the closing years of the last 
century and the opening years of the new tell 
of visits from those high in educational and 
official circles. Accounts of commencement 
exercises and other special occasions contain 
such statements as this: "All of the three 

73 



74 Education of Women in Japan 

highest officers in this province, — the gov- 
ernor and the two vice-governors, — honoured 
us with their presence; also the principal of 
the Normal School, which is very near us, the 
principal of the Commercial College, the prin- 
cipals of several government schools from 
which we draw our students; a military offi- 
cer in uniform; and many other people of dis- 
tinction and influence, besides the Chinese con- 
sul and his interpreter." On many of these 
occasions the highest officials of both city and 
province have been among the speakers. 

Many little things are constantly indicating 
a cordial attitude on the part of the Japanese. 
Gifts of time and money are not only often 
given, but are not infrequently offered with- 
out solicitation. The Nagoya Methodist 
school for some time received the help of the 
daughter of the commander of the garrison, 
a graduate of the Peeresses' School, who of- 
fered to teach without salary. The father of 
a pupil in Kobe College evidenced his interest 
in the Christian schools a few years ago by 
presenting his daughter's Alma Mater with 
$2,500 to be used as a scholarship fund, a 
gift all the more significant because wholly 
unsolicited. The attitude of the city officials 
toward this school was made clear about five 
years ago, when the need of additional land 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 75 

raised the question of moving the school to 
some other city. When the authorities heard 
this they not only strongly expressed the hope 
that the school would not be taken elsewhere, 
but gave evidence of their sincerity by making 
it possible for the college to secure additional 
land on such favourable terms as to make 
removal unnecessary. A like appreciation of 
the work of the Methodist school in Hirosaki 
was shown by the people of that city, who 
furnished both a school building and a home 
for the missionary teachers. 

Instances of cordiality and cooperation 
might be multiplied. But it must be admitted 
that in spite of the fact that friendly interest 
has taken the place of the antagonism which 
was manifested for a time, Christian schools 
have not yet regained their place of leadership 
in Japan, but have, on the contrary, fallen be- 
hind the government schools. Christian 
schools were the pioneers in high school edu- 
cation for Japanese girls, and for years did 
almost all the work of that grade. Twenty- 
five years ago there were less than ten govern- 
ment and public high schools for girls in 
Japan, while about twenty of the Christian 
girls' schools were already at work. While 
it was not to be expected that Christian schools 
should keep pace with the public schools in 



76 Education of Women in Japan 

numbers, it is greatly to be regretted that they 
were unable to reach as high a standard of 
equipment and efficiency as that set by the 
government. " Mainly through inadequacy 
of financial support," reads a recent report, 
" Christian schools, in their teaching forces, 
in methods, and in equipment, are not abreast 
of the national schools of corresponding 
grade. Hence they do not now attract a due 
proportion of the young men and young 
women to whom we may look for Christian 
leadership." 

If Christian schools have been unable to 
give their pupils an education equal to that 
provided by public schools, it cannot be a mat- 
ter of surprise that many of the students in 
mission schools, even some of those from 
Christian homes, are there because they have 
been unable to secure admission to the crowded 
government institutions. The public high 
schools for girls have been by no means able 
to admit all who apply, but in spite of the in- 
adequate provision made by them the growth 
of mission schools has been slow, the enrol- 
ment in 1912 being only 21 per cent, greater 
than in 1902. 

In 1907 a regulation was issued by the De- 
partment of Education, to take effect in 1909, 
which has had a very direct bearing upon the 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 77 

mission schools. This regulation limited the 
privilege of attendance in the government 
higher and professional schools for women 
to graduates of government high schools, or 
institutions recognized by the Department of 
Education " as equal or superior to " these 
high schools. It furthermore stated that only 
graduates of such schools might apply for ex- 
amination for a teacher's license, without 
which none of the best positions in the public 
schools can be secured. A very serious prob- 
lem has thus been presented to the Christian 
schools. Unless they either become regular 
public high schools, which means forfeiting 
the right to teach the Bible in the curriculum, 
or else secure from the Department of Educa- 
tion recognition of their equality to the public 
schools, their graduates will be debarred from 
the government higher schools, and from the 
examinations for teachers' licenses. 

Lack of government recognition has thus 
become a great disadvantage. If a mission 
school does not have such recognition many 
parents who would otherwise have been very 
glad to send their daughters there feel it neces- 
sary to enroll them in some school which does 
have it, since only thus can the coveted teach- 
er's license be secured. " Because of this lack 
of recognition," a missionary worker wrote 



78 Education of Women in Japan 

just after the new regulation had gone into 
effect, "many of our Christian friends are 
reluctantly refusing to send their daughters to 
us; they are driven to send them to secular 
schools that have this recognition." A school 
that is unrecognized by the Department of 
Education cannot but lose many of the girls 
of greatest strength and ability, who, had they 
received their education in the pure moral and 
religious atmosphere of a Christian school, 
would almost certainly have become centres 
of powerful influence for God and for good in 
their nation. 

Moreover, the graduates of schools without 
government recognition are barred from teach- 
ing positions where the influence of strong 
Christian women is greatly needed. To go 
into the government schools, where the lack 
of strong moral influence is recognized by the 
Japanese themselves, and there live a Chris- 
tian life whose beauty and power the students 
cannot but covet, is an opportunity to which 
the girls in a mission school not recognized 
by the government cannot look forward. 

The three alternatives which are open to 
the mission schools for girls, in view of this 
regulation, have been clearly stated by Dr. 
Motoda, quoted in " The Christian Movement 
in Japan " for 1908. 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 79 

" There are three ways in which Mission 
Schools for girls can survive the present crisis. 
First, they may become regular Koto Jo Gakko 
(public high schools for girls) with all gov- 
ernment privileges. This plan excludes the 
Bible from the school curriculum, but leaves 
a wide margin in which to give religious edu- 
cation, and we must remember that the best 
results cannot be obtained by forcing religion 
upon students. Second, they may take con- 
certed action to equip themselves according to 
the requirements for Koto Jo Gakko, and then 
to secure privileges, just as many Mission 
Chugakko (middle schools for boys) have 
secured government privileges. Third, if 
neither of the above plans be feasible, Mission 
Schools would better discontinue the work of 
general education and confine their attention 
to the courses of study for which they are 
specially qualified, such as, special courses in 
English, Western Household Economy, For- 
eign Music, etc." 

The objections to the third course suggested. 
are obvious. The usefulness of the Christian 
schools would be limited almost indefinitely, 
if they confined their work to teaching foreign 
languages and accomplishments. Moreover, a 
school which has not government recognition 
must expect to be rated low in the estimation 



8o Education of Women in Japan 

of the Japanese. As in Germany, so in Japan, 
the stamp of government approval has an in- 
fluence greater than v^e sometimes realize. 
" In Japan, the government outweighs every 
other influence, a fact no one can ignore," an 
American teacher wrote recently. 

Missionary educators are now almost all 
agreed regarding the need of this recogni- 
tion. A recent article reads, " Replies to 
questions sent out to various mission schools 
reveal the fact that all, with the exception of 
a very few in the open ports, feel the necessity 
of government recognition and in some cases 
it seems imperative." Two Protestant schools, 
St. Margaret's under the Episcopal Mission in 
Tokyo, and an independent Christian girls' 
school at Okayama; and nine Roman Catholic 
schools have followed the first course sug- 
gested by Dr. Motoda and have become regu- 
lar public girls' high schools, omitting the 
teaching of the Bible from their curricula. 

The second of Dr. Motoda's suggestions 
is, however, the one which has been most gen- 
erally approved by the Protestant Christian 
forces. Aoyama Jo Gakuin was the first to 
act in accordance with this plan. All the 
government requirements as to curriculum, 
teaching force, and buildings have been met, 
but freedom to teach Christianity has been re- 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 8i 

tained. The school cannot thus be ranked as 
a government school, but in view of the fact 
that it differs from the public schools only in 
this one particular, the government grants to 
its graduates every privilege given to the grad- 
uates of schools directly under its control. 
All the benefits of government recognition are 
thus secured, but the school sacrifices none of 
its liberty to teach the students of Christianity. 
This plan, both in theory and in action, has 
seemed the ideal solution of the problem, 
and several schools have already followed 
Aoyama's example, and others are planning to 
do so as soon as the government requirements 
can be met. 

Notwithstanding the fact that many mis- 
sion schools have been forced to contend with 
inadequate financial support and other dis- 
advantages, a very valuable work has been 
accomplished by them. Dr. Schneder closes 
an account of the educational work for women 
being done under missionary auspices with the 
words, " One rises from a study of these 
Christian schools for young women with a 
heightened appreciation of their incalculable 
value to the cause of Christianity and civiliza- 
tion in Japan." 

In two important respects the work of the 
mission schools has been much stronger than 



82 Education of Women in Japan 

that of the public institutions. Dr. Nitobe, 
one of Japan's most eminent educators, when 
asked what moral standards and ideals would 
meet the needs of the new era in Japan, and 
by what measure they could be propagated, 
replied that the Christian ideals would be the 
standard for the future, and that the most 
immediate and effective means of spreading 
them, aside from direct personal influence, was 
through the study of English literature. " It 
is his opinion," Miss Tsuda writes, " that new 
Japan will receive her greatest impetus to the 
new ethical ideals which will replace the old 
ones through the desire, which is universal, 
to learn English. . . . Not as a language 
alone," Miss Tsuda adds, " though that is use- 
ful enough, but as a source of formative in- 
fluences for the character of men and women 
of coming Japan is the teaching of English 
imperative." 

It is self-evident that this subject can be 
better taught by the American or English 
teachers in a mission school than by the Japa- 
nese instructors in a government school. The 
following letter indicates how thorough a 
knowledge of this subject is acquired by the 
graduates of the mission schools. 

" The long awaited day had arrived, — a cold, 
dull February day in Tokyo. It was not yet 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 83 

seven when the four young women who were 
going from the Aoyama Jo Gakuin to the 
government examination, having breakfasted, 
came to say good-bye. ... It was the second of 
the severe tests given by the Mombusho (Im- 
perial Board of Education) examiners to can- 
didates for the license to teach English. At 
the preliminary examinations the preceding 
July, out of seven hundred only ninety had 
been successful. These young women were 
of that number. . . . 

" With a prayer I sent them out, and with 
a prayer awaited their return. Miss Shibuya, 
who was ill, was the first to arrive. She came 
about three o'clock, tired, but hopeful. Later 
the others came, and we eagerly discussed some 
of the puzzling questions. We were in sus- 
pense for two days while the papers were 
being examined. Then all four went again 
for a final test — an oral one in the presence 
of five learned professors and examiners. 

'' Again we waited, and on February 25th 
the official Gazette published the result of the 
examinations for the year. Out of the forty 
women from all over Japan who had gone to 
the preliminary only eight were finally success- 
ful. Of the eight four were these graduates 
of Aoyama Jo Gakuin." 

The supreme strength of the mission schools 



84 Education of Women in Japan 

lies in their repeatedly proven ability to de- 
velop strength of character as well as of in- 
tellect. One father, himself a teacher, not a 
Christian, entered his daughter in the Metho- 
dist school in Hirosaki rather than in the 
government girls' high school because, as he 
said, " I believe her heart as well as her mind 
will receive training here." 

" I do not understand," said one mother, 
whose only daughter had entered a mission 
school a few months before, so accustomed to 
having servants do every slightest thing for 
her that she was as helpless as a little child. 
'' I do not know what you have done to O 
Sen San, but she is now so different from what 
she was before she came to you. She is strong 
in body, cheerful in temper, helpful at home, 
and a comfort to us all." 

" That this school has some influence in 
transforming character, as the Japanese 
think," reads the annual report of another 
school, " was evidenced a few days ago, when 
a step-mother brought her incorrigible step- 
daughter here, urging us to take her as a 
boarder, hoping she would become a better 
girl. Her own inability to change the girl's 
nature was manifested by the mute despairing 
look on her face. Another case shows the 
reputation the school has for this kind of 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 85 

work. A student was expelled from a gov- 
ernment school for bad conduct. She imme- 
diately said she would come to Kwassui, and 
perhaps she would become a good woman." 

Miss Daughaday tells an interesting story 
of a little girl in Baikwa school of Osaka. 
*' She was a very naughty little girl," she says, 
*' the youngest child in a large family of 
brothers. ... So wilful and disobedient was 
she that a family conclave of relatives far and 
near was convened in order to decide what 
was to be done with her. After several days 
spent in fruitless talk, a young man who had 
spent a year in the Doshisha, in Kyoto, sug- 
gested the experiment of sending her to a 
Christian school. The answer was shouts of 
derision. * What, educate a girl, and in a 
Christian school! This proves how contact 
with foreigners has spoiled you ! ' Later, as 
she went from bad to worse, in desperation 
they sent her to Osaka. Months of trial fol- 
lowed for the missionary and Christian Japa- 
nese teachers; but gradually she began to be 
attentive, became neat in dress, and polite in 
manner. She improved steadily and at the 
end of a year asked for baptism. 

" It was two years before she returned to 
her home. Again a family conclave was 
called, this time to note the wonderful im- 



86 Education of Women in Japan 

provement. They said, ' Your manners are 
different, your voice is different, even the ex- 
pression of your face has changed. What has 
done this ? ' She repHed, ' I have become a 
Christian/ Their answer was, * If this is what 
Christianity does for people, we must hear 
more about it.' At the earnest entreaty of 
her father and brothers a missionary was in- 
duced to change his plans for a series of 
mountain towns, and visit coast towns instead, 
and to make frequent trips there afterward. 
In a few years the work developed into a 
church, and a Christian girls' school with this 
young woman, after her graduation, as prin- 
cipal." 

A strong testimony was paid to the Metho- 
dist school in Fukuoka a few years ago, when 
the educational authorities of the city advised 
girls to attend it, because of the " high stand- 
ard of both education and morals." " It is 
universally known," the principal of this 
school wrote, " that the Bible and the Christian 
religion are taught, and that our own stand- 
ard of morality is based upon them. We al- 
ways mention the fact that we are a Christian 
school to all who enter, and we tell the par- 
ents and friends bringing girls to the school 
for entrance that most of the girls become 
Christians in time." 




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Christian Schools for Girls To-day 87 

The fact that a school definitely teaches 
Christianity does not seem, however, to deter 
non-Christian parents from sending their 
daughters to it. " It is even grov^ing to be a 
common thing," a Christian educator wrote, 
a few years ago, " for non-Christian parents 
to say that they have brought their daughters 
to such a school (Christian), because it makes 
religious instruction a specialty." 

The number of girls from non-Christian 
homes who enter mission schools has always 
been large in Japan. The principal of the 
Sendai Baptist school told me that of an en- 
tering class of eighteen or twenty, perhaps 
two or three were already Christians, a few 
others might be from Christian homes, but 
over half knew nothing whatever of Chris- 
tianity. " Very few of the pupils enter the 
school from Christian families, or with any 
previous knowledge of Christian truth," reads 
a letter from a teacher in Kobe College. Tak- 
ing the country as a whole it is estimated that 
from three-fourths to nine-tenths of the girls 
in Christian schools in Japan come from non- 
Christian homes. 

In view of this fact, the proportion of those 
who become Christians while in school is most 
noteworthy. Sitting at dinner in a school in 
Yokohama, the great majority of whose stu- 



88 Education of Women in Japan 

dents come from non-Christian families, I 
asked the teacher next to me, " How many 
girls have graduated without becoming Chris- 
tians?" "Two," she answered. "They 
made a vow before enrolling in the school, 
pledging themselves not to become Christians 
while here. The day after they graduated 
they came back, saying, * Now we have kept 
our vow. We did not become Christians while 
in the school, but now we wish to join the 
church.' " 

" Eighty per cent, of the pupils who enter 
our Methodist mission schools come out 
Christians," a teacher in Aoyama writes. A 
recent report from Kobe College reads, " Dur- 
ing the first quarter of a century of Kobe 
College there were i6o graduates. Nine- 
tenths of all these graduates were Christians." 
" Only one has graduated who ^vas not a 
Christian," reads a letter from the Kyoto Con- 
gregational school. " The three upper classes 
at present are all Christians, but none in the 
Freshman class just entered are." Of the 
seventy-six graduates of the Sendai Baptist 
school every one is a Christian. 

It is interesting to notice that when the 
country as a whole is considered, the propor- 
tion of graduates who are Christians is esti- 
mated at from three-fourths to nine-tenths, 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 89 

which is just the same proportion as that given 
for those who enter from non-Christian 
homes. It must be remembered that not all 
who enter graduate, and that not many who 
leave after only a short stay in the schools be- 
come professed Christians. But it is doubtful 
whether any girls who have really shared in 
the life of a Christian school go out entirely 
uninfluenced by the lives and teachings of the 
Christian women whom they have learned to 
know and admire. 

That the girls in the mission schools accept 
Christianity not merely as something to be 
believed, but to be lived, they have shown on 
many occasions. The girls of Kobe College 
voluntarily limited their breakfasts to rice and 
pickles for three weeks, during a time of need 
in the city, in order that they might have some- 
thing to give toward relieving the sufferings 
of the poor. The students in the Presbyterian 
school at Kanazawa showed a similar spirit 
at their Christmas celebration. Instead of re- 
ceiving gifts, they used the money which would 
have been thus expended to buy coal, rice, 
warm clothes, etc., for needy people in the 
neighbourhood. Their own Christmas fes- 
tivities were limited to a programme, which 
was just about to be concluded with a treat 
of their favourite cakes and oranges, when 



90 Education of Women in Japan 

one of the girls suggested that any who pre- 
ferred to give away their cakes might put 
them back on the tray. '' The hearts of the 
teachers were touched indeed," writes one of 
them, " when they learned that every girl had 
given both cake and fruit." 

A like expression of the Christian spirit of 
good will was given a short time ago by stu- 
dents in the Methodist and other schools in 
Tokyo, who gave up their entire Christmas 
celebrations in order that they might send 
gifts of money to their sister school, the Joshi 
Gakuin, whose buildings had recently been 
burned. 

The spirit of individual students is indi- 
cated by the story Miss Brown tells of one of 
the girls of Kobe College. " A member of the 
senior class, daughter of a wealthy banker, 
offered to teach one of the lower classes this 
year; but when the sum of money we usually 
paid was handed to her she refused to take 
it, saying she had undertaken the work partly 
to help the school, and partly for her own 
experience and she did not wish to be paid 
for it. After some persuasion, however, she 
took it, and used it for some months to help 
the mother of one of our needy students. . . . 
At the opening of this term the help was no 
longer needed, and our loyal senior girl came 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 91 

to me and said she wished to give what she 
earned this term to help pay the school debt; 
not that such a trifle would amount to much, 
but * to show my heart.' " 

One of the most convincing evidences that 
the Christianity of the schoolgirls of Japan is 
vital to them is their earnest desire to share 
the good tidings with others, not simply in 
the future, after their graduation, but also 
while they are still in school. Many a younger 
girl in a mission school has been led to 
become a Christian by a girl in the upper 
classes. But the Christian students are not 
content to limit their service to their schools 
and every Sunday finds scores of them teaching 
in Sunday schools. Numbers of them teach 
classes in Sunday schools under the direction 
of churches or chapels, but many of their own 
initiative organize and carry on Sunday schools 
in neighbourhoods at a distance from any 
church, securing the use of some house and 
there gathering together every Sunday groups 
of children who have never before heard of 
Christianity. A survey of the Sunday school 
work of about forty girls' schools shows that 
their teachers and students are at work in 303 
Sunday schools and that 173 of them are con- 
ducted entirely by the members of these girls' 
schools. The number of children being taught 



92 Education of Women in Japan 

by them is conservatively estimated as 15,000, 
while a more liberal estimate is 18,000. 

It is impossible to estimate the service being 
rendered to Japan to-day by the women whose 
intellects and characters were developed in 
mission schools. They are a mighty host. 
One school alone, the Kwassui Jo Gakko of 
Nagasaki, reached twelve hundred girls in the 
first thirty years of its history. But the 
strength of their influence cannot be measured 
by numbers. From one end of the empire to 
the other, and even beyond the borders of 
Japan, they are centres of steady, quiet power. 
"Everywhere and always they are in demand. 
" You can scarcely imagine how many letters 
one has to write to other workers here in 
Japan about helpers, interpreters, entering 
pupils, etc.," reads a letter from Miss Davis of 
the Joshi Gakuin. " Our school is a source 
of supply for teachers all over the country, 
so we keep a sort of intelligence office." Miss 
Milliken wrote more recently, " Schools which 
prepare girls for teaching and for other forms 
of Christian work have applications coming in 
months before commencement, and in larger 
numbers than they are able to supply." 

A letter from Miss Denton of the Kyoto 
Congregational school, written after a visit to 
Tokyo, indicates the kind of positions which 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 93 

graduates of Christian schools are filling. 
" There are about twenty former students of 
the Doshisha girls' school in Tokyo. All are 
women above the average, of whom we may 
well be proud. It may be of interest to know 
what they are doing. Four, as wives of pas- 
tors, are doing as much work, perhaps, as 
their husbands, and another is a real help to 
her husband in his work as translator of 
Christian literature. Four are the wives of 
bankers, three of teachers, and one of a high 
official. Of the unmarried girls two are in 
direct Christian work, two in literary work, 
one studying medicine, another English, one 
is working in a prominent Christian school, 
one in the Peeresses' School, and one in a large 
kindergarten." 

The great majority of the graduates of 
Christian schools have taught for a greater 
or less number of years after leaving school. 
There has been a constant demand for their 
services in Christian schools. An account of 
the early days of the Congregational school at 
Fukuoka reads, " Mrs. Ebina, a graduate of 
the Kyoto Girls' School, is the principal." 
Miss Brown, writing of the graduating class 
of 1 89 1 at Kobe, reported, '' Already one of 
these girls has been called to the post of prin- 
cipal teacher in a school of more than sixty 



94 Education of Women in Japan 

girls in Tottori, another to be an assistant 
teacher in the Okayama Girls' School, another 
to be interpreter and assistant teacher in the 
Doshisha Training School for Nurses." All 
of the nine girls who graduated from the 
Joshi Gakuin in 1906, " with the exception of 
one who was not strong, went out from the 
school to teach in other Christian schools." 
Not a few girls have returned as teachers to 
their Alma Maters, where they have won 
warmest commendation from their missionary 
associates. 

Sometimes the girls from mission schools 
have gone out to establish similar schools. 
" Some time ago," reads an annual report of 
the Kwassui Jo Gakko, " a girl came to Naga- 
saki from a province one hundred and twenty 
miles away, who wanted to graduate in the 
school, and then go back and establish a school 
for girls in her own province. She brought 
two other girls with her, who are to assist her 
in her work. She had not heard of Christian- 
ity, but wanted an education, and as she could 
not get admission into the higher grade gov- 
ernment schools, she set out to get an educa- 
tion in her own way. Her father is a high 
class Japanese, but poor, and though he sym- 
pathizes with her ambition cannot help her 
much materially. The girls have become 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 95 

Christians since they came into the school, and 
it will be a Christian school that will be es- 
tablished in that distant province." 

A large number of mission school graduates 
have done splendid service in government 
schools. Some twenty years ago an annual 
report of the Caroline Wright Memorial 
School at Hakodate read : " One of the class 
became a teacher in the Public School, and has 
given great satisfaction. The principal has 
been so much pleased that he has asked for 
another next year. After teaching six months 
her salary was raised, and she was given a 
certificate entitling her to a position in the 
schools of Hakodate for three years." A later 
account of the school of the same mission at 
Hirosaki states, " Its graduates, numbering 
forty-four Christian young women, are in de- 
mand as teachers in the public schools." 
" Even its undergraduates can get positions in 
government schools at a good salary," reads 
a recent report of the Kwassui Jo Gakko. 
" The Inspector of Education, who visits the 
high schools for girls, says he has found nine 
of the graduates of Kwassui in government 
schools, all doing excellent work." 

Several graduates of Christian schools have 
been sought as governesses in influential 
families. One of the girls from St. Margaret's 



96 Education of Women in Japan 

went to San Francisco, as governess in the 
family of the secretary of Count Mutsu, Con- 
sul to San Francisco; and one of the class of 
191 1 at the Joshi Gakuin became the gov- 
erness of the children of the Japanese Am- 
bassador to Peking. 

Kindergartners are in great demand in Japan 
at the present time, and a number of the girls 
from Christian schools have gone into this line 
of work. There are five excellent kindergarten 
training schools under missionary auspices, in 
which girls may fit themselves to answer the 
calls for kindergarten work which are com- 
ing from all parts of Japan, and from Korea, 
Manchuria, and China as well. The native 
gentleness and patience of the Japanese 
women, and their love for children, make them 
especially well adapted to this work. " A 
really good kindergartner is rare," an Ameri- 
can teacher wrote from Japan, " but when 
found, what a treasure! Such an one I have. 
She is a Japanese girl trained by Miss Milli- 
ken in Tokyo." 

Evidently Miss Cody of Nagasaki has also 
found a treasure. When illness rendered it 
necessary for her to leave her work for four 
months, " Miss Takimori, the Japanese kinder- 
garten teacher, carried on her work for two 
months, teaching Miss Cody's classes, which 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 97 

required much preparation — overseeing two 
widely separated kindergartens taught by stu- 
dents, teaching the training class, doing some 
work in the music department, and frequently 
acting as interpreter." 

A few graduates of mission schools have 
become physicians. Prominent among these 
are Drs. Sono Mayeda and Tomo Inouye of 
Tokyo, of whom further mention will be made 
later. Some have given themselves to nursing. 
Miss lyo Araki, '' the wonderful and efficient 
nurse " at the head of the training school for 
nurses connected with St. Luke's Hospital, 
Tokyo, is a graduate of St. Margaret's School. 
Another graduate of a Tokyo school. Miss 
Sato of the Joshi Gakuin, has been reflecting 
honour upon her Alma Mater by her splendid 
service as a nurse in both Japan and Korea. 
She was for some time superintendent of 
nurses in the Red Cross Hospital of Tokyo, 
but when Dr. Avison of Korea asked for two 
Japanese nurses to assist him in his work in 
the Royal Hospital, Miss Sato and one of her 
associate nurses volunteered to go. One who 
saw her in her work there says, *' I met her 
. . . and had the evidence of my eyes as she 
escorted us over the hospital, as to the respect 
in which she is held, from the youngest nurse 
to the highest official. I had known some- 



98 Education of Women in Japan 

thing of her high reputation, and her youth 
and simpHcity were a surprise." 

Quite a number of young women are carry- 
ing the influence of the mission schools of 
Japan beyond the borders of the country. 
" Our graduates number about one hundred 
and fifty," the Osaka Congregational school 
reported in 1906, " and are scattered all over 
the Empire, some being in Korea, and one in 
China, and two now in America studying." 
Mrs. De Forest tells of a recent visit to Korea, 
during which she met several women who had 
been students in Japan : " Soon after our ar- 
rival at Seoul, . . . two ladies, a mother and 
grandmother, who were baptized by Mr. De 
Forest in Osaka nearly thirty years ago, 
called on us. This mother and her daughter 
are both graduates of the Baikwa school in 
Osaka. Another woman, now beyond the age 
when women keep on in public life, was in the 
Doshisha girls' school for half a dozen years. 
She is principal of a school started by Lady 
Om, in which both Corean and Japanese are 
teachers, and all of them, except two elderly 
Coreans, are Christians." A graduate of 
Kobe College, Miss Watanabe, had the honour 
of being the first missionary sent to Korea by 
the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of 
the Japanese Congregational Church. 




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Christian Schools for Girls To-day 99 

Even as far away as Honolulu there are 
graduates of Japanese schools. A graduate 
of Kobe College, and afterward a teacher 
there, went to America for a kindergarten 
training course, and *' for several years has 
been at the head of the Japanese kinder- 
garten in Honolulu, where her influence 
is strongly felt for good in the Japanese 
church." The editor of Woman's Work for 
Woman tells of meeting a graduate of the 
Joshi Gakuin in Honolulu, '' one of a group 
of nine, who had all been educated in mission 
schools of Japan. She told me gratefully," 
she writes, " how the school still follows her 
with incentives to reading, and reminders not 
to neglect her Bible and prayer." 

Almost all the girls who have been out of 
school for ten years are in homes of their own. 
The following note from a missionary teacher 
indicates what one husband thought of the 
results of education in a mission school as 
exemplified in his wife. " One of our pupils 
married a rising man in official life, — a man 
faithful and efficient, as is proved by the many 
embassies he has been sent on. A letter from 
him now in my possession says, ' My little 
daughter, now six years of age, shall, as soon 
as old enough, enter the school her mother 
was educated in.' " 



loo Education of Women in Japan 

Devoted to their homes and giving them- 
selves whole-heartedly to their husbands and 
children, many of these educated wives and 
mothers find time for outside interests. " Be- 
sides being a devoted Christian wife and 
mother, and most charming entertainer," Miss 
Colby writes of a graduate of the Osaka 
Baikwa school, '' Mrs. Otsuka is one of 
the trustees of the Baikwa girls' school. 
She graces whatever place she may be in, 
and is a beautiful pattern for young girls 
to follow — a lovely Christian lady, who 
can manage affairs without losing her 
charming ways." One Japanese mother, 
after writing her missionary teacher about the 
activities of her lively family of eight, adds, 
'' I do what I can in the church, in woman's 
meetings, mothers' meetings, and charity 
work." After a recent visit to the capital. 
Miss Searle wrote of one of the graduates of 
Kobe College, the wife of the president of a 
college in Tokyo, who " is teaching in two 
schools, and yet finds time to help in the execu- 
tive work of the Woman's Christian Temper- 
ance Union, besides being an important mem- 
ber of our Board of Managers." 

Most of the large schools now have alumnae 
associations which are very valuable in keep- 
ing the graduates in touch with each other and 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day loi 

with their Alma Maters. The former students 
of the Doshisha girls' school at Kyoto have 
organized not only in Kyoto, but in Tokyo, 
Osaka, and Kobe as well, holding monthly 
meetings in each of these cities, and a yearly 
reunion in Kyoto in June. Several alumnae 
associations have expressed their appreciation 
of the work of their schools in very tangible 
form. *' The alumnae are organizing and 
working for the help of the college," Mrs. 
Moses Smith writes of the graduates of Kobe 
College. " For the last three years the grad- 
uating class has given a twenty-five yen war 
bond toward the endowment of the college. 
Considering the income of these girls, this is 
a surprisingly large sum." 

" Among many happy outcomes of our an- 
niversary celebration," reads a letter from Miss 
Smith, a teacher in the Sapporo Presbyterian 
school, " is the pledge of our alumnae to give 
the school a new gymnasium, for which they 
already have six hundred yen in hand, and 
promises for nearly all the remainder." 

The twenty-fifth anniversary of the school 
of the same mission at Osaka, was also marked 
by a generous gift from the alumnae, a cottage 
built at a cost of about $1200, to be used for 
classes in etiquette, flower arrangement, and 
cooking, and also for committee meetings of 



102 Education of Women in Japan 

the alumnae association, and to entertain out- 
of-town alumnae. 

These gracious, cultivated women, who are 
taking so useful a part in the life of modern 
Japan, have proved the value of the work of 
the Christian schools for girls, and in the face 
of their quiet efficiency criticism has almost 
entirely ceased. " It is only fair to say," a 
missionary wrote in 1904, " that the mission 
girls' school graduate is now comparatively 
free from much of the criticism to which she 
was at one time subjected, and as maiden or 
wife is covering herself with credit. Almost 
every church in the country is obliged to ac- 
knowledge itself to a greater or less extent 
debtor to the mission school graduate. Her 
influence, too, is felt in no mean degree in 
many government schools for girls." 

" It is interesting to note," Miss Milliken 
wrote at about the same time, " that both Japa- 
nese and foreign visitors now sometimes speak 
of the mission school girls as gentler and at 
the same time more responsive, than those in 
some of the large schools where a trace of the 
soldierly is occasionally visible in the well- 
drilled ranks." 

Those who know these girls best have only 
praise for their unselfishness and ability. One 
worker described a graduate of the Joshi 



Christian Schools for Girls To-day 103 

Gakuin as '' the best Japanese teacher she 
knew," and says of her : '' She seems like a 
foreign girl trained in a Christian home; not 
in the sense of being denationalized, but in her 
understanding of the common moralities. She 
is far in advance of many Japanese ministers, 
elders, and middle-aged women in our churches 
whose ideas were formed before entering 
Christian schools, to whom old Orientalisms 
still cling." 

" I had great respect for our girls at the 
Doshisha when I was among them," Miss Den- 
ton wrote. '' But after I was away from the 
school, and found the graduates of the school 
everywhere, in all the cities and in many vil- 
lages of Japan, teachers in all good things; 
only then did I begin to realize how good a 
thing it was that in 1876 you Congregational 
women of the West sent your message to 
Neesima, ' Educate the women of Japan too.' " 

Miss Milliken; speaking of the demand for 
the services of the graduates of Christian 
schools, adds : " What counts for still more to 
the teachers is the willingness of the girls to 
respond. The Christian graduates need no 
urging, but as a rule cheerfully accept any in- 
vitation to do Christian work, feeling it a 
privilege to share with others what they them- 
selves most highly value. Distance and sever- 



I04 Education of Women in Japan 

ity of climate, they make light of, and of 
monetary considerations lighter still. A 
teacher who has helped many girls decide upon 
positions can recall only one instance in which 
salary was made a reason for accepting one 
place rather than another, and then it was not 
because the girl cared for herself, but because 
she had others dependent on her." 

What a teacher in Kobe College has written 
of the alumnae of that school, might doubtless 
be said of the graduates of the Christian 
schools for girls as a whole. " The alumnae, 
who are loyal and staunch supporters of their 
Alma Mater, are justifying in thousands of 
ways the efforts which have made the school 
possible. In the homes which they are making, 
in the schools in which they are teaching, and 
in the various positions of influence which 
they are filling, they stand for the higher and 
nobler things of life. A prominent non-Chris- 
tian educator said to the writer that it was 
the difference between the graduates of this 
and similar schools, and other women, that re- 
vealed to the government the need of educat- 
ing its girls." 



V 



GOVERNMENT EDUCATION FOR 
WOMEN 

TO a clear understanding of the educa- 
tional work provided for girls by the 
government of Japan, it is necessary 
to have some comprehension of what the Japa- 
nese consider to be the purpose of women's 
education. Baron Kikuchi makes a clear state- 
ment of this. 

" Our ideal of womanhood is * good wife 
and wise mother.' We consider home to be 
the woman's sphere. * Man works outside and 
woman helps at home,' is our maxim. We are 
not without examples of great women who per- 
formed with ability what is usually regarded 
as man's work, but they are comparatively 
few, and they are not those who are most re- 
spected, while examples of good wives and 
wise mothers who encouraged, comforted, and 
helped their husbands and sons are innumer- 
able. . . . With the change in the social con- 
dition of the people and the introduction of 
complex Occidental civilization, our idea of 
woman's sphere is widening ; the spirit, I trust, 

105 



io6 Education of Women in Japan 

remains the same, but the form must change. 
Our ideal of woman's vocation is the same, 
and the essentials of a good wife and mother 
cannot change, but the outward manifestation 
will change. At times like the present in 
Japan, when on many points old and new ideas 
are clashing, where we still have mothers im- 
bued with the thoughts and sentiments of the 
old feudal days, and daughters often with ad- 
vanced modern ideas derived from the West, 
there is a very great danger for society. The 
young, impatient of what they consider unrea- 
sonable restraints imposed upon them by the 
old, are apt to break away from all control, 
and work harm not only to themselves but to 
society. The only means to prevent such un- 
happy catastrophes consists in giving such an 
education to the rising generation of women 
as will enable them to advance in line with 
men under the new condition of things, and, at 
the same time, to appreciate all that is val- 
uable and worthy to be preserved, in the old 
ideals. Such has been the object kept in view 
in framing the present system of female edu- 
cation — in a word, to fit girls to be good wives 
and wise mothers, proper helpmates and com- 
panions of the men of Meiji, and noble moth- 
ers to bring up future generations of Japa- 
nese." 



Government Education for Women 107 

With such an ideal, Japan now makes pro- 
vision for the education of girls in four grades 
of schools: the kindergarten, the elementary 
school, the girls' high school, and the normal 
school. The only girls' schools directly un- 
der the supervision and control of the Central 
Department of Education are the Girls' Higher 
Normal Schools at Tokyo and Nara, with the 
lower schools attached to them. Other schools 
are supported by the local government of the 
village, city, or prefecture, as the case may be. 
But as they conform to government regula- 
tions and receive government recognition, they 
are, to all intents and purposes, as truly gov- 
ernment schools as though they were directly 
under the control of the Department of Edu- 
cation, although the term public rather than 
government is usually applied to them. 

Statistics for the year 191 1 show that there 
were then in Japan, besides the practice kinder- 
garten in connection with the Girls' Higher 
Normal School of Tokyo, 216 kindergartens 
recognized by the government, with an en- 
rolment of 11,690 boys and 10,452 girls. 
There were also a large number of private 
kindergartens. But Baron Kikuchi holds that 
the kindergarten " does not form a part of 
the national educational system." There is 
still, he says, considerable difference of opin- 



io8 Education of Women in Japan 

ion among Japanese educators as to the kin- 
dergarten's value, some holding that it has a 
harmful effect upon the child's development, 
while others maintain that there can be no 
disadvantageous result if the kindergarten is 
rightly conducted. All agree, however, " that 
there should be no systematic teaching, not 
even of letters of the alphabet, in the kinder- 
gartens, that children should simply be made 
to play with gifts and take part in games, to 
sing songs, etc." 

The education which is received from books 
begins then with the elementary school, the 
purpose of which, as stated in the Imperial 
Ordinance on Elementary Education of 1900, 
is " to give children such rudiments of moral 
education and of civic knowledge and skill as 
are necessary for life, while due attention is 
paid to their bodily development." Elemen- 
tary schools are divided into two main classes : 
those known as the ordinary elementary 
schools, and the higher elementary schools. The 
course of the ordinary elementary school is four 
years in length, while the higher elementary 
course varies in length from two to four years. 
In the year 191 1 there were 14,199 ordinary 
elementary schools in Japan, 634 higher ele- 
mentary schools, and 10,840 schools which 
combined the two courses, making a total of 



Government Education for Women 109 

25^673 elementary schools. The statistics for 
this year do not state what proportion of the 
children attending these schools were girls. 
Reports for 1907, however, show that of the 
5,514,735 children in elementary schools at 
that time, 44 per cent, were girls. A com- 
parison of this percentage with the 23 per cent, 
of girls in elementary schools in 1873, and the 
32 per cent, in 1893, shows that there has been 
a growing recognition of the importance of 
the education of girls. 

If, however, the number of girls in the 
higher elementary schools alone is compared 
with that of the boys, the percentage will be 
seen to be very much lower, only 31 per cent, 
of the 1,328,605 pupils in the higher schools 
in 1907 being girls. Baron Kikuchi thinks 
that this is partly due to the fact that many 
people have not yet come to see that the ordi- 
nary elementary school course is as insufHcient 
for girls as for boys. Moreover, at about the 
time that girls are ready to enter the higher 
elementary schools they become very useful at 
home and are kept out of school to help with 
the housework. Their brothers of the same 
age cannot render any valuable service at 
home, and are therefore permitted to continue 
their intellectual pursuits. 

The course of study in the ordinary ele- 



no Education of Women in Japan 

mentary school includes morals, reading and 
writing, arithmetic, Japanese history, geog- 
raphy, elementary science, drawing, singing, 
gymnastics, and handwork. The regulations 
relating to elementary education state " that 
having regard to the different characteristics 
of the sexes and to the difference in their 
future life, instruction must be given proper 
to each." In obedience to this principle the 
little girls learn to cut out, make, and mend the 
ordinary garments of the Japanese people, 
while their brothers are being instructed in 
manual training. Except for this division, 
however, boys and girls study the same sub- 
jects, although in the teaching of morals, a 
subject to which much attention is given, the 
emphasis is somewhat differently placed for 
boys and girls. The regulations referred to 
above direct that " in the teaching of girls, 
special stress must be laid on the virtues of 
chastity and modesty." Baron Kikuchi gives 
an abstract of the lesson on '^ The Duties of a 
Man and of a Woman," as taught in this 
course of morals. 

" Children, your fathers are engaged in 
some pursuit and some are engaged besides in 
the affairs of the shi, cho, or son (i. e., in 
the affairs of the community) ; your mothers 
are engaged in tending your grandfathers and 



Government Education for Women iii 

grandmothers, in bringing up children, in look- 
ing after the food and clothing of the house- 
hold. So the duties of father and mother are 
different. When he is grown up, the man 
must become the head of a house and pursue 
his calling, the woman becomes a wife and 
takes charge of the house; so husband and wife 
must help each other and make a home; the 
occupations of the two are not the same. 
Moral precepts must, of course, be observed 
by both, but men should be specially active, 
women specially gentle, both must observe 
good manners. It is essential that both man 
and woman should cultivate knowledge, each 
such as will enable him or her to fulfil the 
duties of his or her proper sphere. Man is 
stronger than woman, but that is no reason 
why he should look down upon woman ; it is 
a great mistake to suppose that woman is in- 
ferior to man ; they are both lords of creation, 
and there is no reason to despise woman; but 
their duties are different, and each must not 
forget his or her proper sphere." 

The higher elementary schools having a two 
years' course give further instruction in the 
subjects already begun in the lower grades; 
those with a three years' course add agricul- 
ture and commerce in the third year; while 
those with a course of four years give agri- 



112 Education of Women in Japan 

culture and commerce during the last two 
years, and the English language through- 
out. 

All children between the ages of six and 
fourteen are required to attend school for six 
years, unless exempted by the mayor for valid 
reasons such as physical or mental incapacity 
or extreme poverty. The period of compul- 
sory education was raised from four to six 
years in 1908. 

Until after the Chinese-Japanese war the 
government of Japan gave very little attention 
to the education of girls beyond the elementary 
school. It is true that there were before this 
time a few public high schools for girls, but 
the number was very small, and until 1899 
there were no government regulations bearing 
on either the course of study or standards of 
these schools. In 1899, however, the govern- 
ment officially recognized the importance of 
these schools by an Imperial Ordinance con- 
trolling their establishment, organization, ad- 
ministration, etc. The government regula- 
tions are very similar to those for the middle 
schools for boys. But it is interesting to 
notice that the Imperial Ordinance requires 
that, except in a few specified subjects, the 
grades in the girls' high schools be determined 
on the basis of daily recitations, rather than 



Government Education for Women 113 

by examination. The reason given for this 
rule is that girls are very emotional, and 
the strain of examinations is injurious to 
them. 

The purpose of the girls' high schools, as 
stated by the Imperial Ordinance, is " to 
give higher general education necessary for 
women," or, as Baron Kikuchi interprets this 
statement, to give " general education and 
culture necessary for those who are to be of 
middle or higher social standing." 

The course extends over four years and a 
fifth year may be added if desired. A gen- 
eral supplementary course of not more than 
two years, or a special supplementary course 
of not more than three years, may also be pro- 
vided for those who wish to continue their 
education beyond the regular course. A spe- 
cial handwork course of from two to four 
years may also be offered for those who pre- 
fer training along this line. The curriculum 
of the girls' high school attached to the Girls' 
Higher Normal School in Tokyo, shows the 
subjects taught in the girls' high schools, 
and the relative amount of time assigned 
each. 

This curriculum may be somewhat changed 
to meet the needs of different schools. With 
the sanction of the Minister of Education cer- 



114 Education of Women in Japan 

tain subjects may be omitted and others added, 
and the hours assigned to the various subjects 
may be somewhat differently distributed. The 
number of teaching hours must not, however, 
exceed thirty; Sundays and national holidays 
are school holidays, and there are spring, sum- 
mer, and winter vacations. 



SUBJECTS 




HOURS 


5 PER 


WEEK 




1st 


2d 


3d 


4th 


5th 


year 


year 


year 


year 


year 


Morals ,. 2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Japanese . . . .1 6 


6 


6 


5 


3 


EngHsh . ., . . 3 


3 


3 


3 


3 


History & Geog. . ., 3 


3 


3 


2 


2 


Mathematics 2 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Science : 










Botany 












Physics 












Chemistry y .. . 2 


2 


2 


2 




Biology 1 










Hygiene J 










Drawing . . . ., 


I 


I 


I 


I 


Domestic Economy — 






2 


4 


Sewing — 


4 


4 


4 


4 


Music 4 


2 


2 


2 


2 


Gymnastics 4 


3 


3 


3 


2 


Education — 








2 


Total .... 


...26 


28 


28 


28 


27 




u 



Government Education for Women 115 

The government girls' high schools of Japan 
bear clear testimony to the truth of Baron 
Kikuchi's statement that while the Japanese 
idea of woman's sphere is broadening, the ideal 
of her vocation remains the same. The stu- 
dent in the girls' high school studies foreign 
languages, history and geography, mathe- 
matics, and science, — subjects unknown to the 
girl of the pre-Meiji era; but she gives no less 
attention than did the girls of feudal Japan to 
the study of etiquette and the duties of wife 
and mother. During the first two years of 
the course one hour a week is given to de- 
portment and manners. This is considered an 
essential part of the training in " morals." 
The government requires instruction to be 
given in such subjects as: — 

" Things to be borne in mind in relation to, 
and practical lessons in, sitting and standing, 
advancing and retiring, interviews, offering 
and accepting of things. 

'' Things to be borne in mind in relation to 
sleeping and eating, dress, visits, reception, 
communication (correspondence, etc.), pres- 
ents, entertainments, public meetings, occasions 
of joy or sorrow, congratulations and con- 
dolence, mourning, etc." 

The spirit of the new Japan is evident in 



ii6 Education of Women in Japan 

the instruction that the teaching of etiquette 
shall "be adapted to the modern condi- 
tions of living, dressing, and eating, to * stand- 
ing manners' (European style of living) as 
well as to ' manners on mats ' (Japanese 
style)." 

Sewing is taught for four hours a week 
throughout the entire course, and the high 
school graduate of Japan is as skilful in using 
the sewing machine as any American girl. In 
the third and fourth years two hours a week 
are given to the study of domestic economy. 
In the third year the student is taught how to 
select material for clothing, and how to make 
and wash garments. She learns the constitu- 
ents of food, the proper combination of foods 
for a meal, practical cooking, and how to 
avoid infection from impure drinking water. 
She also studies, during the third year, the 
proper choice of a site for a home, the best 
architecture to secure light, warmth, and ven- 
tilation, and how to furnish and care for a 
house. During the fourth year a study is made 
of the care of the old and of children, of 
nursing and the care of infectious diseases, of 
the supervision of servants, household book- 
keeping, etc. 

The study of education, also, is introduced 



Government Education for Women 117 

into the course of the girls' high school; not 
to prepare the girls to teach school, but to give 
them " general ideas on education, so as to fit 
them the better for the functions of mother- 
hood." 

These studies are popular, says an Ameri- 
can teacher in Japan, " in proportion as they 
are presented in a modern light, and on a scien- 
tific basis." 

Three hours a week are given to gymnasium 
work, consisting of *' free gymnastics, dumb- 
bell, wooden ring, and bean bag exercises; 
games including marching practice, square 
dances, gymnastic sports, races, etc." An ar- 
ticle in the " Japan Year Book " bears witness 
to the fact that in these upper schools most ex- 
cellent work is done. *' Great attention is paid 
to dancing steps and exercises tending to ease 
and grace of movement. Probably less atten- 
tion is given than in Western gymnasiums to 
pure body building exercises. Fancy steps and 
figure movements, games and drills of a fan- 
tastic and original order have been introduced 
in large numbers, and tend to make the annual 
field and gymnastic day of some of these 
schools a most beautiful and instructive 
spectacle." 

The writer states that physical culture in the 



ii8 Education of Women in Japan 

girls* schools "has reached a finer and purer 
development than among young men," and al- 
though this article calls attention to the fact 
that pure body building exercises are probably 
less emphasized than in Western gymnasiums, 
the results of the physical training have been 
most satisfactory. Baron Kikuchi says, " With 
girls in high schools, the increase in height 
and weight is remarkable. The majority of 
girls are taller than their mothers." 

The increasing demand for higher schools 
for girls is indicated by the growing number 
of such schools. In 1898 there were twenty- 
five public girls' high schools; in 1902, seventy- 
two; in 1907, ninety-seven; in 191 1, 145. The 
growing popularity of woman's education is 
even more strikingly indicated, however, by 
the following table, which shows a steady in- 
crease both in the number of applicants for en- 
trance into girls' high schools, and in the num- 
ber admitted. The statistics for the first half 
of the decade show a marked decrease in the 
percentage of applicants who could be admitted, 
and although there has been some recovery 
since 1906 the latest report of the Minister 
of Education shows that the percentage of 
those admitted in 1910-11 was still below that 
of six years before. 



Government Education for Women 119 

APPLICATIONS FOR ENTRANCE INTO GIRLS' 
HIGH SCHOOL 





Number of 


Number 


Percentage 


Year 


Applicants 


Admitted 


Admitted 


1901-02 


7.91 1 


6,242 


78.90 


1902-03 


11,021 


7,363 


66.80 


1903-04 


14,046 


9,180 


65-36 


1904-05 


15.470 


10,222 


66.08 


1905-06 


19,790 


11,407 


54.22 


1906-07 


23,327 


12,865 


55-57 


1907-08 


26,108 


14,327 


54.87 


1908-09 


28,495 


16,184 


56.79 


1910-ir 


30,207 


18,673 


61.48 



That the Ministry of Education recognized 
the need of more adequate provision for the 
education of girls is indicated in the Annual 
Report for 1905-06. " Marked development 
is shown in female education. There has been 
a considerable increase in applicants for ad- 
mission to the high schools for girls, and one 
or more public high schools for girls 
are established in each prefecture through- 
out the Empire. . . . Even the private 
high schools for girls established in vari- 
ous localities are overcrowded with pupils. 
The number of pupils attending is 31,574, 
being less than one-third the number in the 



I20 Education of Women in Japan 

boys' middle schools. In the general education 
of a higher standard, a regrettable difference 
in the number of male and female students 
is to be noticed ; special attention must be paid 
in future to the education of women." 

It is interesting to notice what the graduates 
of the girls' high schools are doing during the 
year following their graduation. The follow- 
ing table gives the facts for those who grad- 
uated in 1909: 

Pupils taking special work in same 

schools ........ . . .,. . . .,. ... .,. ..... 709 

Pupils entering the Girls' Higher Nor- 
mal Schools . .,. ... ... . . ... .,. .,. .,. .,. . 23 

Pupils entering other schools. .1. ...... . 507 

School teachers ..,.., 780 

Those devoted to practical pursuits or 

domestic affairs ...... ,...., 2,738 

Those who married . ., ,. . 275 

Those who died 30 

No exact information concerning..,.. 371 

5.433 

The Japanese government early established 
normal schools for the training of teachers. 
As early as 1874 there were fifty-three public 
normal schools in which there were 5072 stu- 
dents, seventy-four of whom were women. 
In 1882 there were eighty normal schools, in 



Government Education for Women 121 

which 805 of the 6569 pupils were women. 
In 191 1 there were the same number of schools, 
but with 22,350 students, of whom 6334 were 
women. Thirty-five schools were for men only, 
twenty-seven for women only, and eighteen for 
both men and women. Of the 1497 teachers 
in these schools, 192 were women. 

The students in these schools receive the 
training necessary for teachers in the elemen- 
tary schools. Two distinct courses are offered. 
The first course extends over four years, with 
one year's preparatory course. Students who 
have had the work of the ordinary elementary 
school and two years in a higher elementary 
school may enter the preparatory course; those 
who have had three years of higher elementary 
education may omit the year of preparatory 
work. The young women who take this course 
study morals, pedagogy, the Japanese language 
and Chinese literature, history, geography, 
mathematics, natural science, physics and 
chemistry, household matters, sewing, writing, 
drawing, manual work, music, and gymnastics, 
and English if they wish it. 

The second course is for those who have 
completed the work of a girls' high school or 
a boys' middle school. It extends over one 
year for graduates of a high school with a 
five-year course, over two years for those who 



122 Education of Women in Japan 

have had but four years of high school work. 
The subjects studied by the women are the 
same as those mentioned above, except that 
household matters and writing are omitted. 
History and geography are given only in the 
two-year course. 

An elementary school, in which practice 
teaching is done by the students, must be at- 
tached to each normal school. Almost every 
normal school in which there are women stu- 
dents has also a kindergarten in connection 
with it. 

All students in normal schools are required 
to live in the dormitories provided by the 
school. These dormitories are presided over 
by superintendents who are chosen with great 
care because of their close contact with the 
students. At least one of the superintendents 
of each dormitory must be a member of the 
school faculty. Workrooms for day, bed- 
rooms for night, dining-room, bathrooms, 
recreation-rooms, reading-room, and hospital- 
room are provided, and an effort is made to 
give a pleasant social atmosphere by encour- 
aging the students to decorate their rooms and 
entertain their friends. 

Not only are the students in these normal 
schools given their education and dormitory 
accommodation without charge, but money 



Government Education for Women 123 

is also given them to meet the cost of food and 
clothing and incidental expenses. In return 
for this they must serve as teachers in ele- 
mentary schools after their graduation. 

The inadequacy of the eighty normal schools 
to meet the demand of those who desire such 
training is indicated by the fact that in 1911 
only thirty per cent, of those who applied for 
admission could be received. "With all gov- 
ernment schools it is the same," Baron 
Kikuchi says, " and even among private schools 
good ones are obliged to refuse a large per- 
centage of applicants for admission. With 
local rates already very heavy, and State tax 
no less heavy, how to meet this demand is one 
of the most difficult and pressing problems we 
have to deal with." 

In view of the very large number of teach- 
ers required by the many elementary schools 
of Japan, and the limited number of students 
who can receive the benefit of normal school 
training, it follows that many of the elemen- 
tary teachers must be insufficiently prepared 
for their work. 

Provision is made for the training of women 
teachers for the girls' high schools and normal 
schools in the Girls' Higher Normal Schools 
of Tokyo and Nara. The Nara school is much 
younger than that at Tokyo, having been es- 



124 Education of Women in Japan 

tablished in 1908, but as it has been modelled 
on the Tokyo school, a description of the 
older institution will probably apply fairly 
well to the new one also. 

Young unmarried women, not less than 
seventeen years old and not more than twenty- 
one, who are of sound constitution and good 
moral character, and who are graduates of a 
girls' high school or normal school, are eligible 
for entrance into the Girls' Higher Normal 
Schools. Candidates are recommended, often 
by the prefects of the districts in which they 
live, and after a competitive examination those 
who make the best showing are admitted. As 
only a small fraction of those who apply can 
be accommodated, failure to receive admission 
is no indication of poor scholarship. In 1909 
a little less than twenty-five per cent, of those 
who applied for entrance to these two schools 
could be received. There were in that year 
450 students in the two institutions. 

The regular course extends over four years. 
Certain special courses are offered from time 
to time in response to urgent demands for 
teachers in the high schools and normal 
schools, and there is also an elective course. 
These special courses vary in length from one 
to four years. The regular course is divided 
into three departments: Literature, Science, 



Government Education for Women 125 

and Art; among which the students are about 
evenly divided. Those taking the literary- 
course study ethics, education, the Japanese 
language, Chinese literature, history, geog- 
raphy, music, and gymnastics. The studies in 
the scientific department are ethics, education, 
the English language, mathematics, physics, 
chemistry, natural science, music, and gym- 
nastics. There is laboratory work in connec- 
tion with all the sciences. The students in the 
art department study ethics, education, the 
English language, physics, chemistry, house- 
hold matters, sewing and handwork, drawing 
and designing, music, and gymnastics. There 
is also a post-graduate course in which stu- 
dents in any of these departments may con- 
tinue one or more subjects of the course. 

A girls' high school, an elementary school, 
and a kindergarten are connected with the 
Tokyo Higher Normal School, in all of which 
practice teaching is done. 

A term of teaching is required of all grad- 
uates of the Higher Normal School. Those 
whose expenses have been entirely met by the 
government must teach for five years, during 
the first two in accordance with whatever di- 
rections they may receive from the Minister 
of Education. Those whose expenses have 
been met in part are required to teach for a 



126 Education of Women in Japan 

term of two or three years. Those who have 
received no help from the government must 
teach for two years. In 191 1, nineteen of the 
ninety-one graduates of the previous year 
were teachers in normal schools, sixty in girls' 
high schools, six in other schools, five in 
kindergartens as conductors, and one had not 
decided what line of teaching to follow. 

Not a few of the graduates of this school 
who have shown unusual ability have been sent 
abroad by the government to specialize in the 
subjects particularly interesting to them. 
Miss Kin Kato Takeda studied English in the 
Salem Normal School of Massachusetts and 
at Wellesley College. Miss Mitsu Okada and 
Miss Matsu Okonogi also studied English at 
Wellesley. Miss Aguri Inoguchi took a course 
in the School of Physical Culture in Boston. 
Miss Simi Miyagawa and Miss Tetsu Yasui 
both studied in England; Miss Miyagawa 
taking work in domestic science and hygiene 
at Bedford College of the University of Lon- 
don, and at the London Polytechnic; Miss 
Yasui studying the history of education and 
domestic science at Cambridge Training Col- 
lege. Each of these young women is required 
to teach six years for the government upon 
her return. The Siamese government asked 
the aid of Japan in establishing a Peeresses' 




5-1 

o 

u 

O 



'Of) 

o 
N 



Government Education for Women 127 

School and Miss Yasui was sent to give her 
six years of required service to that v^ork. On 
her return to Japan she became a teacher in 
the Peeresses' School in Tokyo. Many of these 
young v^omen have returned to teach in their 
Alma Mater, the Girls' Higher Normal School 
of Tokyo. 

The Higher Normal Schools offer the most 
advanced educational opportunities provided 
for women by the government of Japan. 
The government has established no woman's 
college and has made no provision for women 
in its Universities. 

Three special schools, the Tokyo Musical 
Academy, the Tokyo School for the Blind, 
and the Tokyo School for the Dumb, complete 
the list of government institutions which make 
provision for women. Of the 509 students 
in the Academy of Music in 191 1, 354 were 
women. The statistics for the School for the 
Blind and the School for the Dumb for 191 1 
do not distinguish between men and women 
students, but figures for previous years would 
seem to indicate that the proportion is about 
even. 

All who are interested in the education of 
Japanese women cannot fail to look upon the 
schools established by the Government with 
appreciation and admiration. Everything in 



12^ Education of Women in Japan 

connection with them gives evidence of care- 
ful thought. An American teacher says of the 
girls' high schools, " Not only has the number 
increased, but the efficiency of the schools is 
constantly increasing, the equipment is ad- 
mirable, and the standard for teachers is con- 
stantly rising." 

The Japanese nation has not been able to 
spend large sums of money upon school build- 
ings, but although wood is the material com- 
monly used, and there is little or no attempt 
at ornamentation, the buildings are solid and 
there is adequate exercise ground. The site 
of a school is chosen with great care, and must 
be satisfactory from the point of view of 
morals, pedagogy, and hygiene. All applica- 
tions for permission to establish schools must 
be accompanied by maps of the neighbourhood 
and an analysis of the drinking water. 

The government curriculum has been criti- 
cised by some on the ground that it requires 
too much of the girls. It is no doubt true 
that there has been a tendency to err in this 
direction. After observing the public schools, 
Miss Bacon wrote : " By the new system, at 
its present stage, too much is expected of the 
Japanese boy or girl. The work required 
would be a burden to the quickest mind. The 
whole of the old education in Japanese and 



Government Education for Women 129 

Chinese literature and composition — an educa- 
tion requiring the best years of a boy's Hfe — 
is given, and grafted upon this our common 
school and high school studies of mathematics, 
geography, history, and natural science. In 
addition to these, at all higher schools, one 
foreign language is required, and often two, 
English ranking first in the popular estimation. 
Many a headache do the poor hard-working 
students have over the puzzling English lan- 
guage in which they have to begin at the 
wrong end of the book and read across the 
page from left to right, instead of from top 
to bottom, and from right to left, as is natural 
to them.'' 

This comment was, however, made some 
twenty years ago, and recent statistics regard- 
ing the health of women students seem to be 
encouraging evidence that the girls in schools 
to-day are not being seriously overworked. 
And while twenty-eight or thirty recitation 
hours a week may seem to make a very heavy 
schedule, it must be remembered that several 
of these hours are spent in etiquette, domestic 
science, and sewing classes, and there is not, 
therefore, continuous severe brain work. 

The criticism that the curriculum does not 
make sufficient provision for such studies as 
will train the reasoning powers is perhaps 



130 Education of Women in Japan 

more serious. The tendency in Oriental edu- 
cation has always been to cultivate the memory 
rather than to develop the power of independ- 
ent thought, and the education of modern 
Japan seems to be erring in the same direction. 
It is true that mathematics and science are in- 
cluded in the curriculum, but the work is very 
elementary, and except in the Girls' Higher 
Normal School there seems to be no labora- 
tory work in any of the girls' schools. 

Miss MacDonald points out that the Japa- 
nese language, in its very nature, develops the 
memory; that the literature studied in the 
school cultivates the imagination; and that 
ample provision is made for training in the 
practical duties of life. " But," she writes, 
*' imagination let loose, memory highly de- 
veloped, the details of practical life taught, 
without a thorough training which develops 
the consciousness of cause and effect, display 
in the average type of mind turned out de- 
cided and vital weaknesses. ... I think I 
may say, without fear of successful contra- 
diction, that the essay written by the Japanese 
girl, while it may display a good deal of gen- 
eral reading, an appreciation of the beauties 
of nature which a corresponding Western girl 
does not possess and an imagination which is 
admirable, displays at the same time a lack 



Government Education for Women 131 

of logic and association of ideas which make 
the result well-nigh ludicrous. The fault does 
not lie in any inability to think logically, but 
in a lack of cultivation in the line of the rea- 
soning powers. If more logical thinking were 
encouraged by the study of what we call the 
exact sciences and some system of logic, the 
result could not but be beneficial to real edu- 
cation." 

The government has endeavoured to assure 
good teaching by requiring the teachers in 
its schools to have certificates. These certifi- 
cates are granted only to those who are grad- 
uates of government higher schools, or who 
have satisfactorily passed the government ex- 
amination for a teacher's license. Formerly 
any one might take this examination, but in 
April, 1907, a regulation was passed limiting 
the privilege of applying for examination to 
those who are graduates of schools officially 
recognized by the Department of Education. 
The government is thus assured of the candi- 
date's knowledge of the subjects in which he is 
examined, and is also satisfied that he has had 
a good general education in a reliable school. 

In spite of the high standards set for teach- 
ers, however, the number of teaching positions 
has so far exceeded the number of qualified 
teachers that it has been necessary to employ 



132 Education of Women in Japan 

many who are insufficiently prepared. A 
careful student of educational work in Japan 
writes, " The problem of inadequately trained 
teachers for elementary schools is a serious 
one, which perhaps accounts for the fact that 
keen observers of educational problems lament 
the lack of moral stamina in so many of those 
who stand as instructors of the young." 

The thoughtful Japanese consider the de- 
velopment of a strong moral character one of 
the supremely important functions of educa- 
tion. An American teacher tells of attending 
a conference on education in Osaka, at which 
the mayor, the head of the Court of Appeal, a 
former vice-minister of education, the presi- 
dent of the National Bank, the president of a 
steamship company, the president of a rail- 
road company, and other influential men were 
present. ** The general trend of the talk was to- 
ward the value of character, of spiritual train- 
ing, no matter what else came," she writes. 

To guide the young people of Japan wisely 
during this time of transition, when old sanc- 
tions have disappeared and the new have not 
yet become firmly fixed, is a task which calls 
for infinite understanding and patience. If 
the bewildered boys and girls in the schools 
to-day are to become strong, sane men and 
women, worthy to be leaders, the teachers to 



Government Education for Women 133 

whose care they are entrusted should be pecu- 
liarly wise and sympathetic. But too many of 
the teachers in government schools are as much 
in need of guidance as their students, and 
command little respect or confidence. 

" One of the most interesting comments on 
the education of girls was made to the effect 
that the girls in the average school suffered, 
and suffered heavily, because of the lack of 
friendship and counsel from those higher 
than themselves," Miss MacDonald writes. 
" The girls in the high school, for instance, 
are worrying their brains over all sorts of 
problems, some purely intellectual, some 
moral and ethical, and they think and think 
to no conclusion. They need stimulus and 
inspiration and practical help from those older 
than themselves to whom they can go, and 
from whom they can get practical advice. 
But there is very little sympathy in the aver- 
age school between pupil and teacher, and too 
often the teacher is not the person who can 
give good advice. An instance was cited of 
a visit made to a certain high school a year or 
two ago. In the Ethics class pupils were ask- 
ing the teacher questions. Questions relating 
to every phase of life, it would seem, were 
propounded within the space of one hour to 
a poor little teacher of twenty-two or -three 



134 Education of Women in Japan 

years of age. ' How can I develop common 
sense?' * How can I resist fierce tempta- 
tions ? ' ' How can I subdue vanity, for in- 
stance wanting to buy pretty hair ribbons ? ' 

* Is it right to kill your father if he has dis- 
graced the family ? ' The question about the 
ribbon was just as serious to the one who 
asked it as the one about the father, and I 
suppose those poor little brains had worked 
for hours, and were in desperate need of hav- 
ing some one give a definite practical answer." 
Thus, although great attention is given to the 
study of morals there is no satisfactory result 
in character. 

Western science and history have made it 
impossible for the students of modern Japan 
to pattern their lives upon the religious faith 
of their fathers. Buddhism and Shintoism 
have lost their hold upon them, and many are 
in religious confusion. Some years ago the 
principal of a higher elementary school in the 
province of Okita made an effort to find out 
something of the religious beliefs of his pupils. 
One hundred and seventy-eight boys and girls, 
averaging fourteen years of age, were asked 
to answer three questions. 

" To the first question * Has a man a soul ? ' 
twenty-eight answered ' Yes ' ; twenty-five said 

* Yes ' with the qualification that they did not 



Government Education for Women 135 

believe it to be immortal; and sixty-two de- 
nied that man has a soul. To the second 
question * What is God?', ninety-seven said 
* Our imperial ancestors, and other bene- 
factors '; three said, 'There is no God'; and 
one little Roman Catholic girl said, ' God is 
the Creator of the Universe.' To the third 
question * What becomes of man after death? ' 
twenty-five stated the belief that man's soul 
survives death; eighty-one held that death ends 
all; and twelve could not answer These fig- 
ures speak eloquently of the religious need of 
the boys and girls of Japan. More than two- 
thirds of the children examined had no con- 
ception of a future life; more than half de- 
nied that man has a soul; and only one had 
any idea of the true God." 

This lack of a vital steadying religious faith 
is fundamentally responsible for the absence 
of moral strength in the government schools. 
The Japanese themselves recognize this. An 
official of Matsuyama, who studied the schools 
of that city with some care, recently stated in 
the local newspaper that the Christian school 
for girls was the only one which could be 
recommended for training in character. The 
principal of the Yokohama Girls' High School 
has felt so keenly the religious need of his stu- 
dents that he not long ago made public an- 



136 Education of Women in Japan 

nouncement of Christian services which were 
being held in the city, and urged the girls to 
attend them. 

It is not, perhaps, the function of the gov- 
ernment schools of Japan to furnish religious 
instruction. The variety of religious beliefs 
represented by the families of the pupils makes 
the problem of Japan not altogether different 
from that of the United States. But unless 
by some means the students in the government 
schools are brought to a knowledge of a re- 
ligion which it is possible for them to accept 
intellectually and which has in it the power to 
give them strength in place of weakness, peace 
in place of confusion, no moral growth can be 
expected. 

Carefully planned and thoroughly organized 
as is the governmental system of education in 
Japan, and excellent as is the work being done 
in many respects, it is not in itself sufficient to 
meet the educational needs of the young peo- 
ple of the Empire. That there is in Christian 
countries a large place for education under 
Christian auspices in addition to that offered 
in public institutions has long been recognized. 
Surely there is far greater need for this in a 
non-Christian land where the sources of re- 
ligious influence are so few compared with 
those of America and Europe. 



VI 

SOME PRIVATE SCHOOLS 

ONE of the oldest schools for girls in 
Japan is the well-known Peeresses' 
School. In 1 87 1 the late Emperor 
Meiji asked ten of his most influential nobles 
to confer with him regarding the establishment 
of a school in which the children of the nobility 
might receive fitting education. As a result 
of this conference about one hundred and 
fifty nobles formed, in 1874, "The Associa- 
tion of Nobles," which was practically a school 
but was not called so until 1876. In that 
year His Majesty gave a tract of land on 
which a school building was erected, and one 
hundred and thirty students, including a few 
girls, were soon enrolled. The following year 
the school received the name " The Peers' 
School." In 1885 the girls' department, which 
then consisted of one hundred and forty-three 
students, was made an entirely separate in- 
stitution known as the Peeresses' School, hav- 
ing its own grounds and buildings, and, under 
the patronage of Her Majesty the Empress, 

137 



138 Education of Women in Japan 

conducting its work in entire independence. 
In 1906, however, the school was again made 
a department of the Peers' School, although 
the work still continues to be conducted on a 
separate campus. 

The Peeresses' School is by no means lim- 
ited to the children of the nobility. As early 
as 1877 an ordinance was passed extending 
the privilege of attendance to the children of 
the " shizoku " or military class, and the '' hei- 
men " or commoners. It is interesting to note 
that school fees are required of these children, 
but not of the daughters of the nobles. The 
fact that the fees are lower than in the ordi- 
nary high school is also noteworthy. The 
proportion of girls from the different classes 
is shown in the following record of attendance 
in the year 1907, which is doubtless fairly 
typical of other years. 

Girls from the Imperial Families. . 5 

Nobility . . . ., 302 

Military Class 279 

Commoners ....... 133 



(( it it 

tl it iC 

tl ti it 



Total ........ ,..,....., 719 

The Peeresses' School is not in any way con- 
nected with the Department of Education, but 



Some Private Schools 139 

is under the direct supervision of the Imperial 
Household Department. Its work is divided 
into four departments: the kindergarten, the 
primary school with a six years' course, a 
five-year high school course, and a higher de- 
partment which offers three years' work. The 
high school course follows the general plan 
laid down by the government, but not so rigidly 
as do the public schools; and, as would nat- 
urally be expected, the Peeresses' School lays 
more emphasis on various accomplishments 
than do the ordinary high schools. In addi- 
tion to the regular high school course, French, 
English, sewing, embroidery, painting, both 
Japanese and foreign, and vocal and instru- 
mental music, both Japanese and foreign, are 
taught. The principal of the school is a man 
and there are a number of men on the faculty, 
although there are also several women, one or 
two American or English women usually as- 
sisting in the English department. The patron- 
age of the Empress (now Empress Dowager) 
has been by no means a formal thing, but has 
expressed itself in frequent personal visits. It 
is said that she has attended almost every Com- 
mencement since the school opened, and she 
has not infrequently spent several hours in 
going from class to class, inspecting the work 
done and noting the progress of the pupils. 



140 Education of Women in Japan 

It is not surprising that the Peeresses' 
School should have the reputation of being 
" the most conservative school in all Japan," 
but many things have served to show that the 
spirit of progress is by no means lacking. One 
of the first Japanese women employed to teach 
in the school was Miss Ume Tsuda, one of 
the only three Japanese women who had, at 
that time, had any opportunity for study 
abroad. Many times since then, by their choice 
of teachers, both foreign and Japanese, the 
Directors of the Peeresses' School have given 
evidence of their desire to secure for the stu- 
dents the 'services of those who have received 
the most thorough and modern preparation for 
teaching. The students, too, a few years ago, 
showed themselves to be true children of the 
new generation in Japan by giving a public 
entertainment, consisting of tableaux depicting 
scenes in Japanese history in which women had 
figured. They devoted the proceeds of this 
entertainment to the work of the Imperial 
Woman's Association, which is seeking to 
further the education of women in Japan. 

One of the largest and youngest private 
schools for girls in Japan is the Woman's 
University. Its founder and president, Mr. 
Jinzo Naruse, was the moving spirit in the 
establishment of the Baikwa Congregational 



Some Private Schools 141 

school for girls in Osaka, in 1878, and later 
started a similar school in Niigata. During 
the early nineties Mr. Naruse spent some time 
in America, studying at Andover, and giving 
much attention to the education of women. 
He is said to have visited practically all the 
v^omen's colleges in the North. 

Upon his return to Japan in 1894 he pub- 
lished a book on v^oman's education, in which 
he gave expression to his conviction of the 
need for an institution of higher education for 
women. The book attracted widespread at- 
tention, and Mr. Naruse was surprised and 
delighted to find that there were many who 
heartily approved of his plan for the estab- 
lishment of a girls' school which should give 
opportunity for more advanced work than that 
offered by the public high schools. In 1896 
a meeting of those interested in this project 
was held in Tokyo, and an executive com- 
mittee, of which Count Okuma was chairman, 
was appointed to make and carry out plans 
for raising the funds needed to start such a 
school. Such men as Marquis Ito, Marquis 
Saionji, Barons Utsumi, Kitabatake, and 
Shibusawa lent their sympathy and support to 
the movement, and 100,000 yen was soon con- 
tributed. Her Majesty the Empress ex- 
pressed her approval by a personal gift of 



142 Education of Women in Japan 

2000 yen. Interest in the new school was 
manifested on all sides. One of the con- 
tractors contributed 500 yen, and another pre- 
sented the school with its front gate; news- 
papers published advertisements of the insti- 
tution free of charge and teachers were will- 
ing to give their services for very small sal- 
aries. The formal opening on the twentieth 
of April, 1 90 1, was largely attended, and five 
hundred students were enrolled during the 
first year. 

The name University was probably given to 
this institution because there is no other word 
in Japanese which can be applied to a school 
that is higher in grade than a girls' high school. 
Even the name college would be too ambitious 
a term to describe correctly the work done in 
this school, but it does represent a step in ad- 
vance in the matter of higher education for 
girls, and has been very popular. It is recog- 
nized by the government as a " Semmon 
Gakko " or special school, and offers courses 
along four main lines : household science, Japa- 
nese literature, English literature, and science. 
A normal course planned especially to train 
teachers of domestic science has recently been 
added. Mr. Naruse hopes to be able to add 
courses in music, art, and medicine in the near 
future. 



Some Private Schools 143 

There are attached to the school, as to the 
government Higher Normal Schools for Girls, 
a kindergarten, a primary school, and a high 
school, in addition to the " Semmon Gakko " 
proper. Five hundred students were enrolled 
in the various branches of the school during 
its first year, eight hundred in the second, and 
one thousand in the third. The present en- 
rolment is about eleven hundred. 

The Woman's University has probably given 
more attention to the question of housing its 
students than any other non-Christian school 
in Japan. Twenty-seven dormitories accom- 
modating about thirty girls each provide for 
practically all the students who cannot live at 
home. The dormitories have been kept small 
in order that the life in them might correspond, 
as nearly as possible, to life in a home. " We 
should conduct our schools in such a way," 
Mr. Naruse writes, " that the school life may 
never disqualify our girls for the home life 
when they finish their studies and return to 
their homes." A teacher, or some other re- 
sponsible woman, is at the head of each dormi- 
tory, and each month two girls are appointed 
to have oversight of the housework. One 
servant is employed to do part of the work but 
"the cooking, washing, setting tables, deco- 
rating the rooms, the economical management. 



144 Education of Women in Japan 

and everything that concerns the house is un- 
der the control of the residents." 

Two dormitories for the use of the girls 
during the summer have been established, one 
on the campus and one in Karuizawa, a sum- 
mer resort in the mountains. Groups of girls 
occupy these summer dormitories for periods 
of three weeks, holding meetings, and '' ex- 
changing views and ideas on almost every 
subject under the sun." The third-year girls 
are given precedence in the use of these dormi- 
tories, and usually write their graduation 
essays there. 

The alumnae association of this school is 
an unusually strong and active organization. 
It has an endowment of 17,000 yen, given 
chiefly by the Mitsui family, and the interest 
from this makes possible the employment of 
several women who give their full time to the 
development of the various branches of work 
carried on under the alumnae's auspices. One 
building on the campus is devoted entirely to 
the activities of the association and in it are 
carried on a bank, in which between 800 and 
1000 yen are exchanged daily; a little shop, 
which averages an exchange of 20,000 yen a 
year; the offices of the alumnae magazine, etc. 
In addition to the work done in this building, 
the alumnae have a dairy, gardens, a chicken 




a 



X 



Some Private Schools 145 

yard, and a cake-making establishment, in which 
students who need financial help can earn 
money. The alumnae magazine is published 
weekly and consists of three departments deal- 
ing with household, educational, and social af- 
fairs. The alumnae are expected to investi- 
gate problems pertaining to these various de- 
partments of life, send in reports, and hold 
meetings for the discussion of related subjects. 
General meetings of the entire association are 
held twice a term, and in addition branch 
meetings are held in the different districts of 
Tokyo, and in other parts of Japan. 

A study of the occupations of the alumnae 
shows that many have entered teaching posi- 
tions in Japan, and a few have gone to schools 
in China. Others, in smaller numbers, are 
private governesses; reporters; clerks in de- 
partment stores, and business and railway 
offices; some are doing library work; a few 
are engaged in some form of social service; 
and a small number are continuing their 
studies in colleges of other countries. The 
school is very proud of the fact that the ma- 
jority of its graduates marry, but investigation 
shows that many continue in some form of 
educational or business pursuit after marriage. 

The ideals of the Woman's University can 
best be stated in Mr. Naruse's own words: 



146 Education of Women in Japan 

" Women must be educated not only as 
women, but also as members of Society and 
citizens. The education of our girls hitherto 
has been very defective on this point. It has 
made women a little better qualified for their 
household duties than before, but not qualified 
for rendering service to Society. It has been 
entirely overlooked that a woman has duties 
to Society as much as to her family. In the 
education of the future we must look upon a 
woman in her broader relations, and endeavour 
to strengthen in her the consciousness that she 
is a member of Society so that she may con- 
tribute something both directly and indirectly 
to Society at large. 

" Still further women must be educated not 
only as members of Society, but also as souls. 
They must not be looked upon as things, or 
instruments for practical uses, but as sacred 
human beings with faculties of mind and body 
that are capable of infinite development. We 
must educate women first as souls, then as 
members of Society, and then as women, or 
our education will never be perfect." 

Although Mr. Naruse lays so much em- 
phasis upon the development of women " as 
souls," religious instruction is not a part of 
the curriculum of the University. Again 
Mr. Naruse's attitude can best be given by 



Some Private Schools 147 

himself. " Educators must have a spirit of 
tolerance to all religions, and allow students 
perfect freedom in adhering to any religion 
they choose; and at the same time they ought to 
inculcate high moral principles of life, aiming 
to the spiritual edification of the students with- 
out interfering with their individual faiths. 
Such teaching will tend to strengthen the con- 
viction of students in the essential and ever- 
lasting truths, and let alone the non-essential 
and valueless elements of their respective 
religions." 

One cannot doubt Mr. Naruse's sincerity in 
the conviction that '' so far and no farther can 
education go in religious instruction," but 
when it is remembered that a majority of his 
students profess no religion whatever, one 
cannot but earnestly covet for them an oppor- 
tunity to know of the vital and positive religion 
of Him who came to bring abundance of life. 
It is always well to hold up high ideals, but 
the young people of Japan are restless and un- 
satisfied not from lack of moral standards but 
from lack of power to attain them. I well 
remember a graduate of the Woman's Uni- 
versity full of high purposes and ambitions, 
who soon after her graduation had gone into 
a large factory and become one of the workers 
there in order that she might thus learn how 



148 Education of Women in Japan 

best to serve those who were condemned to 
spend their lives in such work. She had no 
lack of the desire to be useful, but she knew 
nothing of the peace and power of service ren- 
dered in fellowship with the Great Companion, 
and after a week of association with those who 
were living in the joy of such fellowship, her 
hunger expressed itself in the cry, " I want 
something! I don't know what it is, but I 
ivant it ! " 

While it is still young, the future of the 
Woman's University seems fairly well assured. 
Mr. Naruse has secured the interest of those 
who are able to assist the school financially, 
and the large enrolment each year indicates 
that there are many who desire the kind of 
work offered. 

One of the most interesting and successful 
schools for girls in Japan is the Joshi Eigaku 
Juku, better known in America as Miss Tsuda's 
English Institute. 

The youngest of the five girls sent 
to America for education by the Japanese 
government in 1872 was Ume Tsuda, then 
only seven years old. For ten years this little 
girl lived in Washington, in the home of Mr. 
Charles Lanman, going to school and learn- 
ing to understand the life of the West in a 
way possible only to those who grow up in it. 



Some Private Schools 149 

When she was seventeen she returned to Japan 
to find herself a stranger in her native coun- 
try. She had forgotten the customs of her 
country, the elaborate etiquette of her people 
was a mystery to her, even the language was 
to her a strange tongue. A young girl of less 
strong character might well have been over- 
come by the difficulties of the situation. But 
Miss Tsuda set herself resolutely to master 
her difficult native tongue; to become thor- 
oughly acquainted with the ways of her peo- 
ple ; to be, in short, " as good a Japanese as 
she had become an American." 

Soon after her return she was appointed in- 
terpreter and teacher to the wife of an offi- 
cial who held a high position in the Japanese 
court. This experience was of great value, 
both because of the training it gave and be- 
cause of the opportunity it afforded her to win 
the confidence and friendship of many of the 
most influential people in Japan. Her mother's 
illness called her home at the end of six 
months and when she was again free she was 
asked to become a teacher in the Peeresses' 
School, which was at that time just beginning 
its work as a separate institution. Miss 
Tsuda's success in thoroughly renationalizing 
herself is most convincingly attested by her 
long term of service in this school, which is 



i^o Education of Women in Japan . 

directly under the patronage of the Empress, 
and is probably the most conservative school in 
the country. 

After teaching in the Peeresses' School for 
several years Miss Tsuda felt the need of 
further study, and having obtained a leave of 
absence in 1889 she returned to America and 
spent three years in Bryn Mawr College. She 
did not work for a degree, but specialized in 
English literature, history, and science. She 
showed such natural aptitude for scientific 
study that during her last year in Bryn Mawr 
she assisted the professor of biology in origi- 
nal research. 

In 1892 Miss Tsuda resumed her work in 
the Peeresses' School, and five years later she 
was also appointed a lecturer in the Tokyo 
Girls' Higher Normal School, the most ad- 
vanced government school for girls in Japan. 

In 1898, mainly through the influence of 
Marquis Ito, Count Okuma, and Professor 
Toyama, Japan sent two women as delegates 
to the biennial convention of the Federation 
of Women's Clubs held in Denver. Miss 
Tsuda was one of these delegates and, reads 
a newspaper report, ^' delivered one of the best 
five minute speeches of the biennial, best in 
composition, delivery, grace, and voice." 
" Miss Tsuda cannot be too heartily congratu- 



Some Private Schools 151 

lated," commented the Japan Weekly Mail in 
reporting the impression she had made, " upon 
the courage, tact, and abihty she has dis- 
played." At the earnest invitation of the wife 
of the Archbishop of Canterbury and other 
prominent women from England, Miss Tsuda 
went from America to Great Britain, and spent 
six months there, in Oxford and elsewhere, 
studying educational methods. The position 
which she had come to occupy in her country 
is indicated by the fact that on her return 
from this trip she was granted the great hon- 
our of a private audience with the Empress, 
which is an extreme mark of Imperial favour. 
Ever since her first return to Japan from 
America Miss Tsuda had had one supreme 
desire: to share with other Japanese women 
the gifts which she had received in America. 
For several years she had held the conviction 
that the best way to do this was through a 
school for girls which would offer more ad- 
vanced work than that provided by the govern- 
ment, and which would give this work in the 
atmosphere of a Christian home, and under 
the influence of Christian teaching. In 1900 
she felt that the time had come to establish 
such a school. The reaction against the educa- 
tion of Japanese women had passed; her friend 
Miss Bacon, who had promised to help in the 



152 Education of Women in Japan 

inauguration of the school, was ready to come 
to Japan; and interested friends in America, 
while not making any definite promise, agreed 
to try to raise an initial sum of $4000. Miss 
Tsuda accordingly resigned her position in the 
Peeresses' and Higher Normal School, giving 
up thereby not only her official rank and title, 
but her only assured means of financial sup- 
port. But she possessed the courage and faith 
which recognize no obstacles as insurmount- 
able. A friend in Tokyo wrote at this time: 

" Miss Tsuda occupies a unique position 
here. No one doubts her ability, her honesty, 
or her Christianity. Whatever stand she takes, 
every one knows exactly where to find her, 
and she has won her way just by sheer force 
of honesty and ability to a position of uni- 
versal respect. The work that she proposes 
is a great one." 

Bishop McKim's testimony was equally em- 
phatic. " Miss Tsuda is an enthusiast on the 
subject of the education of Japanese women; 
but she has what is wanting in many enthu- 
siasts — knowledge founded upon successful ex- 
perience. Teaching has been her profession 
for many years, and I know of no woman in 
Japan whose reputation as an educator stands 
higher than hers. She is preeminently quali- 
fied for the work she wishes to do as a Chris- 



Some Private Schools 153 

tian teacher of Japanese girls and young 
women. I am positive that her work will be 
a success from the beginning." 

Few people were as well qualified to judge 
of Miss Tsuda's fitness for the work she pro- 
posed as Miss Bacon, who had known her in 
her girlhood in America, and who had for a 
time been one of her colleagues in the Peer- 
esses' School in Tokyo. ^' There are very few 
persons in Japan who are able to look with 
equal clearness upon the Eastern and Western 
civilizations," Miss Bacon says, " and of these 
few I think I am safe in saying that not more 
than two or three are women. Among these 
women Ume Tsuda stands forth as, perhaps, 
the most prominent and energetic. Her story 
is well known to most foreigners in Japan, 
and her life has been lived for some thirty 
years, more or less, before the public on both 
sides of the Pacific. As under the concentration 
of interest that has at all times fallen upon her, 
she has showed herself at all times worthy of 
all respect, — womanly, modest, capable, ener- 
getic, — it is hardly necessary for me to add 
anything in regard to her personal character. 
In a life compassed about by perplexities, her 
quick wit and absolute honesty and sincerity 
have made her a place that belongs to her 
alone among all the women of Japan. Her 



154 Education of Women in Japan 

Christianity, without cant or bigotry, is of a 
kind that never evades an issue or dodges a 
duty." 

It was decided that the new school should 
make a specialty of English, not only because 
it was felt that the demand for good instruc- 
tion in this subject would be of great assist- 
ance in making the school possible from a 
financial point of view, but also because Miss 
Tsuda believed that the study of English litera- 
ture would bring to her students just the ideals 
and inspiration which she coveted for them. 
** The teacher even of elementary English in 
Japan," Miss Bacon writes, " finds that 
thoughts which Americans deem almost innate 
are new, and of deepest interest, to Japanese 
students. The opening of English literature 
to the mind is the opening of a window to- 
ward fresh air and sunshine and magnificent 
new vistas of thought and feeling. The care- 
ful study of English literature is in itself a 
liberal education to the mind trained only in 
Japanese thought. The idea that Miss Tsuda 
wished to carry out in her school was to offer 
to girls who had already completed the Eng- 
lish work obtainable in the government or 
other schools a thorough three years' course 
in the English language and literature, such 
as would fit them for teaching in secondary 



Some Private Schools 155 

schools; and at the same time to fill in, for 
girls whose education in English has been con- 
ducted at the expense of their Japanese, in- 
struction by thoroughly qualified teachers in 
their own language and literature. By such a 
curriculum she hoped to supplement the work 
both of the government schools and the mis- 
sionary institutions, and to fit graduates from 
them to pass the government examinations for 
English teachers, thus opening a means of 
employment which has hitherto been almost 
closed to women. As a rule to-day among 
women, the good English scholars have an 
imperfect Japanese education, and the thor- 
ough Japanese scholars have little or no Eng- 
lish. Each year in the government examina- 
tions for teachers' certificates, a number of 
women apply, but most of them fail for one 
or the other of these reasons." 

With such a purpose as this the school be- 
gan its work in September, 1900, and thirteen 
years have attested the need and value of just 
such an institution. The work began very 
quietly in a small private house, with fifteen 
pupils and three teachers. Miss Tsuda, Miss 
Bacon, and Mr. Sakurai, with the Princess 
Oyama as " Komon," or '' Honorary Ad- 
viser." The first winter was undeniably a 
hard one. '' The school literally had need of 



1^6 Education of Women in Japan 

all things," reads a report, " for while its 
Japanese friends were sympathetic their gifts 
were of necessity small. Miss Bacon's type- 
writer often came into play to provide ex- 
tracts for the literature classes; and hymns so 
copied did duty at morning prayers, one serv- 
ing for a week while the next was being pre- 
pared." But in spite of lack of books, cramped 
space, scanty furniture, poor light, influenza, 
and other sickness, at the end of three months 
the school had doubled its enrolment, and sev- 
eral applications had already been entered for 
the following year. A larger house was se- 
cured in which sixty students could be accom- 
modated. " At first it seemed as if the house 
was all that could be needed for years to 
come," Miss Bacon wrote a few months after 
the move was made, " but already the school- 
room, sleeping-room, and dining-room capacity- 
is seriously strained, and the assembling of the 
school and its friends for an evening entertain- 
ment necessitates a removal of partitions, 
books, and furniture that cannot be lightly 
undertaken." 

In the summer of 1902 the school was en- 
abled to purchase a good piece of property, 
which had formerly belonged to the American 
Church Mission, and the work has been car- 
ried on there since that time. There are at 




o 
o 

(—• 

GO 

en 






Some Private Schools 157 

present two school buildings, containing class- 
rooms, offices, reading-room, assembly hall, 
gymnasium, etc.; two dormitories; and three 
small residences for teachers. 

In 1904 the Department of Education set 
its stamp of approval upon the work of the 
school by granting it full government recog- 
nition as a " Semmon Gakko," or special 
school. The same department paid what was 
perhaps an even greater tribute tO' the thor- 
oughness of the school's work the following 
year, when it granted the graduates of its 
normal course the teachers' license to teach 
English in government secondary and normal 
schools for girls, without examination. Since 
19 1 2 this license has applied to schools 
for boys also. These are privileges accorded to 
no other private school for girls in Japan, and 
to only two government schools, the Girls' 
Higher Normal Schools of Tokyo and Nara, 
and these schools offer no advanced course in 
English. Only those, however, who before 
coming to Miss Tsuda have graduated from 
public high schools, or private schools recog- 
nized by the government as equal in stand- 
ard to the high schools, can be given these 
teachers' licenses. The school has for several 
years been filled to its utmost capacity of one 
hundred and fifty. 



158 Education of Women in Japan 

There are now one hundred and forty-three 
graduates, sixty-three of whom are teaching 
in government schools from one end of the 
country to the other. By their abihty and 
character they have given their Alma Mater 
an enviable national reputation. No graduate 
of the school need ever fear lest her services 
should not be required, for Miss Tsuda can- 
not supply teachers rapidly enough to fill the 
positions offered. 

Miss Tsuda does not feel that her work has 
ended when a girl graduates from the Joshi 
Eigaku Juku; in fact she herself now gives 
as much of her energy to the alumnae as to the 
under-graduates, counselling and encouraging 
and helping them in many ways. Many of 
them go out to difficult and distant positions, 
where the loneliness and actual hardships 
would be almost too great to bear were it not 
for the sympathy and inspiration which they 
receive from their honoured and beloved 
teacher. 

More than one-half of the girls who grad- 
uate from this school and go out into influ- 
ential teaching positions all over Japan are 
members of Christian churches, and others 
would gladly be if their parents would consent. 
Almost all the students come from non-Chris- 
tian homes, but what they learn and see of 



Some Private Schools 159 

Christianity during their three years in the 
school wins most of them to a personal ac- 
ceptance of the Christian faith. No pressure 
is brought to bear, but they are given every 
opportunity to see and judge for themselves. 
Boarding pupils are expected to attend the 
morning prayers which are held in the Assem- 
bly Room at the beginning of each day's work, 
and many day pupils come of their own ac- 
cord. The same thing is true of the church 
service and Sunday school. Ethics is a part 
of the required work, as in all government 
schools, and is taught by Dr. Motoda, the 
principal of the Episcopal College for boys in 
Tokyo, with the Bible as the basis. The 
Young Women's Christian Association carries 
on a strong work in the school, sending a large 
delegation to the summer conference each 
year, and conducting voluntary Bible classes, 
in which more than two-thirds of the students 
are enrolled. While not denominational, the 
school is as strongly Christian as any institu- 
tion in Japan, and its achievements in trans- 
forming lives are even more noteworthy than 
its eminent educational success. 

The school now offers only a literary course, 
which includes, in addition to the English 
work, Japanese, Chinese, ethics, psychology, 
history, etc. Miss Tsuda is eager to add a 



i6o Education of Women in Japan 

scientific course at the earliest possible mo- 
ment, but cannot do so without additional 
financial support. 

Both Japanese and American friends have 
contributed generously to the support of the 
school. Two American committees with 
headquarters in Philadelphia and New York 
seek to enlist the sympathy and support of the 
friends of Christian education on this side of 
the Pacific, and a Japanese committee headed 
by the Princess Oyama has been no less active 
in Japan. The alumnae association has, from 
its beginning, assumed a generous share of the 
school's financial burdens. In 1904 it organ- 
ized afternoon classes in English for younger 
girls who were attending other institutions, all 
the teaching being done by alumnae, and all the 
proceeds being given to the school. A short 
time ago the alumnae gave 6000 yen to clear 
off the mortgage on the school property, and 
they are now seeking to raise 10,000 yen as the 
nucleus of an endowment fund. Part of this 
amount is to be used for the support of a 
teacher, who is to be one of their number, 
and is to have charge of the alumnae associa- 
tion in addition to her teaching. The gifts 
that have perhaps meant most, however, are 
the personal contributions of time made by 
many teachers, both Japanese and foreign. 



Some Private Schools i6i 

" Without this help from many of the best 
teachers in Tokyo," reads a school report, 
'' the school could hardly have come through 
its first difficult years, and certainly could not 
have had its unexpected success." More than 
half the teaching is now either given outright, 
or like Miss Tsuda's own, at half rate, or less. 

In spite of the generosity of many friends, 
however, the work of the Joshi Eigaku Juku 
is still seriously restricted by lack of funds. 
Were it not for this there would be practically 
no limits to the splendid service which could 
be rendered by it. Owing to the universal 
respect in which its founder and head is held, 
because of the high place accorded it by the 
government, and as a result of the character 
and ability shown by its graduates, it occupies 
a position of more than ordinary influence. 
Moreover, the fact that there is a constant de- 
mand for teachers of English, and that no 
other school for girls offers such advanced 
work along this line, gives the English Insti- 
tute an opportunity to reach an unusually large 
number of those who are to be the teachers of 
young Japan. It faces a future full of promise. 

Many other private schools for girls exist 
in various parts of Japan, but time and space 
would fail were one to attempt to tell of them 
all. One of the oldest of them is the Atomi 



1 62 Education of Women in Japan 

Girls* School in Tokyo, established in 1876 
by Madame Kwaki Atomi, one of the best 
known painters and educators in Japan. The 
work in this school is modelled upon the old 
ideals for the education of Japanese women, 
and much emphasis is laid upon such accom- 
plishments as art, music, etc. Madame Atomi 
has recently been granted the insignia of the 
Sacred Crown, and promoted to the Sixth 
Rank of Merit, in recognition of her years of 
service to the women of her country. Over 
one thousand students have graduated from 
her school. 

Another Japanese woman well known for 
her scholarship and interest in educational af- 
fairs is Madame Miwada, who has been a 
teacher for forty-eight years. She was for a 
time the governness of the Prince Iwakura, 
and later established a private school for girls 
in Matsuyama. She is now the principal of a 
girls' school in Tokyo, which bears her name, 
and was established by her in 1902. 

Madame Tanahashi can look back upon an 
even greater number of years given to edu- 
cational work. Over fifty years ago she 
opened a private school for girls, and since 
that time she has taught in many schools, both 
public and private, in different parts of Japan, 
including the Girls' Higher Normal School of 



Some Private Schools 163 

Tokyo. She estabHshed a girls' high school 
in Tokyo in 1903, which is said to be one of 
the most flourishing in the city. She and 
Madame Miwada were the first women edu- 
cators to be decorated by the Emperor with 
the sixth order of the Sacred Crown, this hon- 
our being conferred upon them both on March 
8th, 1912. 

A girls' private school at Okayama, con- 
ducted by Mrs. Kajira, a Christian woman, a 
graduate of Kobe College and Mt. Holyoke, 
is of especial interest because the prefectural 
government, in recognition of the value of the 
work being done, has granted it a government 
subsidy. 

Among the private professional schools in 
Tokyo is a Woman's Commercial School where 
girls are prepared for positions as stenog- 
raphers, bookkeepers, telephone operators, 
clerks in railroad offices, etc. The work of 
this school has recently been recognized by the 
government as equal to that of the public high 
schools for girls. 

A medical school for women, established by 
Dr. Yoshioka, a woman physician, is doing 
good work. Dr. Yoshioka has a large prac- 
tice, and conducts a private hospital, using 
what she earns from these sources to conduct 
a medical school at Ushigome, Tokyo, in which 



164 Education of Women in Japan 

there were last year three hundred women. 
Her equipment is meagre, twenty students, for 
example, having the use of one microscope 
among them, but the teaching has been of suffi- 
ciently high a grade to win for the school 
government recognition as a Semmon Gakko. 
" This school cannot of course be compared 
with the medical education which is being 
given men," says a recent article, " but Uni- 
versity professors lecture at the school, and 
women are going out in increasing numbers 
to practise medicine as assistants, or what 
would correspond to high class nurses, and 
those who have passed government examina- 
tions, as regular practitioners." 

The record made by graduates of this school 
who have entered for the government exami- 
nations reflects great credit on the thorough- 
ness of their preparation. The Japan Times 
records the fact that in 1908 Miss Yuku Tomi- 
hara, a graduate of the school, was " the only 
lady among three persons who succeeded in 
the examination, out of 1400 competitors." 
A recent issue of the Japan Weekly Mail also 
calls attention to the fact that " among those 
who have successfully passed the examinations 
by the Educational Department as medical 
practitioners are four women, all of whom are 
graduates from the Tokyo Woman's Medical 



Some Private Schools 165 

School at Ushigome." The sister of one of 
these young women, also a graduate of Dr. 
Yoshioka's school, is now a licensed physician 
in the Government General Hospital of Korea. 
In view of the government recognition granted 
the school last year, the graduates will receive 
regular medical degrees, without examination, 
in three years. One hundred 'and seventy 
women have now graduated from this school. 
The private schools for girls vary so 
greatly, both in character and standard, that 
no general statements can be made regarding 
them. It is interesting to notice, however, 
how many of those which are best known have 
been established and are carried on by Japa- 
nese women. Some of these have already ren- 
dered very real service to the girls of Japan, 
and many of them will undoubtedly be among 
the most influential forces in moulding the 
womanhood of the future. 



VII 
WOMAN'S LIFE IN MODERN JAPAN 

THE horizon of the women of old 
Japan was limited, and the pursuits 
in which they were permitted to en- 
gage were very few. The management of 
their households and the care of their children 
were practically the only occupations open to 
the women of the middle and upper classes. 
The women of the poorer people led a little less 
restricted life, for poverty often forced them 
to add some form of industrial work to their 
home duties. Probably in no other country 
has woman taken a larger part in agriculture 
than in Japan. Any one who has visited the 
country in the spring or summer will remem- 
ber the picture of little Japanese women, young 
and old, working in the rice fields, preparing 
the muddy soil for the seed, or, with blue skirts 
fastened up, wading in the water which covers 
the first green shoots, separating them and re- 
setting the young plants. The picking and 
drying of tea was one of the occupations in 
which the women of old Japan shared, and the 

i66 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 167 

cultivation of the silkworm was almost en- 
tirely entrusted to them. Few other activities 
were, however, deemed suitable for them. 

The woman of modern Japan lives in a dif- 
ferent world. Whereas her grandmother, and 
even her mother, never dreamed of any life 
outside of the home, she may choose from many 
possible vocations. Japanese women are to- 
day taking an active part in industry, in vari- 
ous professions, and in numerous forms of 
social and religious service. 

The statement has been made that almost 
two-thirds of the industrial products of Japan 
are the result of women's work. Women are 
operatives in factories manufacturing silk, cot- 
ton, paper, mats, boxes, bamboo articles, and 
many other products. Commercial and indus- 
trial institutions have grown with great rapid- 
ity in Japan, and according to the report of 
the Department of Agriculture and Commerce 
for 1910, there are now 814,419 factory work- 
ers in Japan, of whom 336,545 are men, 477,- 
874 women. 41,914 of these are under four- 
teen years old, 7309 of them boys, 34,605 
girls. 

The factory girls work long hours, and as 
most of them are required to live in dormi- 
tories attached to the factories they practically 
spend their lives inside factory walls. Many 



i68 Education of Women in Japan 

of them live under most undesirable conditions 
where physical and moral health are well- 
nigh impossible. Some factories, notably the 
Kanegafuchi Spinning Company of Osaka, 
conduct excellent welfare work for their em- 
ployees, but the condition of factory girls as 
a whole can be improved only by the passage 
and rigid enforcement of the right kind of 
factory laws. There are as yet no factory 
laws in operation. Three laws were passed 
through the Diet recently, but with the under- 
standing that they should not come into force 
until at least ten years later. These laws are, 
in brief: 

1. Work by children under twelve years of 
age is forbidden. 

2. The working day of children under fif- 
teen and of women must not exceed twelve 
hours. 

3. Work by children under fifteen and by 
women is forbidden between the hours of ten 
p. M. and four a. m. 

The solution of this problem lies, as the 
Commission of the Young Women's Christian 
Association appointed to investigate the condi- 
tions of employed women reports, " in the pub- 
lic conscience, in a larger sense of the worth 
of human labour, and in the Christianization 
of all society." 




c3 






o 

3 

o 

-4— » 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 169 

The introduction of the telephone has given 
employment to several thousand v^omen. 2300 
girls are employed by the telephone offices of 
Tokyo alone. The majority of these girls 
are very young, from seventeen to twenty 
years old, and most of them become married 
after a few years of work. A few, however, 
remain long enough to be appointed to re- 
sponsible positions, in which they receive 
about the same salaries as do high school 
teachers. The hours of work in the telephone 
exchange are not long, and three holidays a 
month are given. It is said that the heads of 
departments encourage the girls to save their 
money, as much as 40,000 yen being now on 
deposit on their accounts. 

In connection with the Department of Com- 
munications 12,543 women are employed as 
clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, etc., in the 
railway and post offices. They are considered 
very efficient in keeping accounts, and ap- 
parently have always given great satisfaction. 
Over twenty years ago the Japan Weekly Mail 
commented upon the favourable impression 
made by the pioneers. " The practice of em- 
ploying female labour in Government offices 
was, we believe, inaugurated by the Finance 
Department. Everybody who has visited the 
Printing Bureau of that Department remem- 



170 Education of Women in Japan 

bers the long rows of dapper, clean-looking 
girls, with their simple uniform, . . . and still 
retains a vivid recollection of the extraordi- 
nary nimbleness and precision of their fingers." 
About two hundred of the women employed 
in government offices hold positions of official 
rank, which entitle them to be called govern- 
ment officials, rather than employees. Much 
honour is attached to these positions and gov- 
ernment pensions are granted to those who 
hold them for fifteen years or more. 

The number of fairly well educated girls 
who are finding employment in business offices 
is increasing. Not a few English and Ameri- 
can firms employ girls from mission schools. 
These girls do stenographic work in English, 
and receive comparatively good salaries. Sev- 
eral Christian girls are in such positions as 
these. 

A few Japanese women are controlling large 
business interests. One of the most prominent 
of these is Mrs. Asa Hirooka of Osaka, the 
organizer and head of a well-known banking 
firm at Kajima. " At the age of seventeen," 
reads an account of her activities, " she mar- 
ried Mr. Shingora Hirooka, whose family was 
one of the banking agents of the feudal barons. 
Political convulsions greatly affected business, 
and the Hirooka finances were at a low ebb, 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 171 

when Mrs. Hirooka took sole charge of the 
business, introduced decided changes, and 
swept the concern to financial success. She 
is regarded as a remarkably successful finan- 
cier, and her ability as an organizer was shown 
by her conduct of the coal mining projects 
at Nogi. But little interest was shown in the 
development of the mines, but in spite of dis- 
advantages and bitter opposition, she so ably 
managed the enterprise as to add to the 
wealth of the firm, and to her reputation as 
a business woman." Mrs. Hirooka employs 
several women in her bank, and has entrusted 
some of the positions of largest responsibility 
to them. She is a loyal Christian, and was 
one of the leaders of a recent summer con- 
ference of the Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation. She made the opening address, 
speaking on '' Christianity and the Woman 
Problem," and remained throughout the con- 
ference, helping in numerous ways. 

Nursing is a comparatively new line of work 
for Japanese women, but one to which many 
are now giving themselves. The first nurses' 
training-school was established in Kyoto, in 
the eighties, in connection with the medical 
work of the American Board. Miss Linda 
Richards, who was the first nurse graduated 
in New England, resigned her position as sup- 



172 Education of Women in Japan 

erintendent of nurses in the Boston City Hos- 
pital, and went to Japan to take charge of the 
new training-school. This school attracted 
much attention and received many visits from 
officials and others interested in medical 
science. It undoubtedly served as a model 
for many of the nurses' training-schools which 
exist to-day in almost every prefecture of 
Japan. 

The Japanese women are peculiarly fitted 
for the work of nurses in several ways. They 
have behind them centuries of training in abso- 
lute obedience and self-control, and their 
gentleness and patience are proof against the 
most trying tasks and the longest hours. One 
who found it necessary to spend several days 
in St. Luke's Hospital, Tokyo, could not say 
enough in praise of " the patient, happy little 
Christian Japanese nurses, flitting about in 
their short white frocks from morning till 
night, and through the nights too, always with 
a cheerful smile, ready to dO' anything, never 
saying, ' I am tired.' " 

Gentleness and cheerfulness are no more 
characteristic of these nurses, however, than 
the loyalty, courage, and power of almost lim- 
itless self-sacrifice which were the supreme 
virtues of feudal Japan, and which have be- 
come part of the very being of the Japanese 



Woman's Life in Modem Japan 173 

woman. Dr. Berry's testimony to the " re- 
markable courage and fortitude " of Japanese 
nurses, comes from an experience of over a 
quarter of a century of work with them. ** In 
the early history of the Kyoto schools," he 
says, " a striking illustration of this (courage) 
was seen in a medical service arising from 
earthquake, when within ten minutes ten 
thousand persons were killed and fifty thou- 
sand injured. To the centre of this disturb- 
ance I hurried with a corps of native assist- 
ants and nurses, where we found a surgical 
service almost unprecedented in its arduous 
responsibility. On the third day of that serv- 
ice, when amputating a leg at the knee joint, 
and about to pick up the arteries for ligation, 
the distant roar of an approaching earthquake 
shock was again heard. The large number of 
patients in the waiting-room were hurriedly 
carried to the yard by friends, but all the 
nurses and medical assistants braced them- 
selves for the shock, stood bravely by the 
patient, and steadily performed their respective 
duties. So, too, in the great epidemics of 
cholera that have swept over the land, and 
again in the Russo-Japanese war, these nurses 
have unflinchingly done their duty with abso- 
lutely no fear of death." 

These women have not flinched even in the 



174 Education of Women in Japan 

face of duties which meant almost certain 
death. " If I should decline to work there, 
another must, and if she too should fear there 
will be none to stay," said Mrs. Ume Tamura, 
superintendent of nurses of the Taikoku Hos- 
pital in Formosa, and unmurmuringly laid 
down her life in nursing a case of plague. 

In spite of the fitness of Japanese women for 
nursing, this work has not as yet attained 
the dignity in Japan which it possesses in 
Europe and America, but is regarded as a 
trade rather than a profession. Wages are 
usually low, hours almost unendurably long, 
and the work full of drudgery. But notwith- 
standing these things a very large number of 
young women are entering this work. The 
Japanese hospitals use Japanese nurses entirely, 
and most of the foreign hospitals employ a 
large number of them. The Red Cross Hos- 
pital has a huge staff, not only in Tokyo but 
throughout the country. It is estimated that 
there are 3000 nurses in the city of Tokyo 
alone. 

The lives of the nurses working in con- 
nection with missionary agencies, while 
very busy, are cared for and safeguarded 
in every possible way; but they are very few 
in number compared with the host of young 
women working in other hospitals and on 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 175 

private cases. There are so many able physi- 
cians among the Japanese that there is now 
comparatively little need for medical mission- 
ary work in Japan, and there are only a few 
Christian hospitals or dispensaries. The great 
majority of nurses work under difficult and 
sometimes dangerous conditions. 

" Probably no class of young women needs 
to know the comforts of the Christian life 
more than nurses," reads the report of a recent 
commission of the Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association in Japan. " They are in the 
midst of suffering all the time, and the hours 
are desperately long and strenuous. They re- 
ceive for the most part low wages, and when 
they leave training the housing problem when 
off duty is a very serious one. Nurses' unions 
are numerous, but are for the most part 
agencies for the exploitation of the nurses. 
There is need for some Christian agency to 
help nurses not only individually as occasion 
and opportunity arise, but to provide facilities, 
social and physical, which will create an 
environment in which spiritual fruits will have 
a large chance to take root and grow." 

The number of women physicians in Japan 
to-day is not large ; a recent article states that 
there are not more than two hundred and fifty 
in actual practice in the entire country. This 



176 Education of Women in Japan 

is a large gain over the thirty reported in 1896, 
however, and the number of women medical 
students indicates that this profession is mak- 
ing an increasingly strong appeal to Japanese 
women. The Report on Education for 1909- 
10 shows that in certain government examina- 
tions for medical practitioners there were two 
hundred and seventy-nine women applicants, 
sixty-three of whom passed the examinations. 

The first woman physician in Japan was Dr. 
Gin Ogino, the story of whose efforts to obtain 
a medical education is a record of difficulties 
and discouragements which might well have 
destroyed a less firmly fixed purpose than hers. 
When she finally succeeded in acquiring her 
training, she was forced to wait a year before 
being admitted to the examinations for the 
legal certificate without which she could not 
practice. Twice her petition for examination 
was rejected, but the third time she was per- 
mitted to enter the lists and was one of those 
who succeeded in satisfying the examiners of 
their ability to practise medicine. 

Another pioneer woman medical student 
was Dr. Yoshioka, the head of the medical 
school for women referred to in the preceding 
chapter. In addition to her work in her school, 
Dr. Yoshioka receives, on an average, eighty 
patients a day in her office, and conducts her 



% 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 177 

own hospital, which accommodates thirty 
patients. 

One of the best known women physicians 
of Tokyo is Dr. Sono Mayeda, who received 
her earHest education in the Methodist school 
for girls in that city. After leaving this school 
she entered a private medical school, and in 
spite of the fact that she was the only woman 
student completed her medical course. She 
married soon after finishing her studies, but 
her husband lived only a short time, and after 
his death she began her medical practice. She 
spent some time in a hospital in Tokyo, and 
was then appointed by the government to work 
in a Korean hospital. Her father's illness 
necessitated her return to Tokyo some years 
ago, and placed upon her the responsibility of 
supporting the family. " Now she has fought 
her way out of her many difficulties," says the 
Japan Advertiser, " her father has been re- 
stored to health, she has been able to place her 
family in good circumstances, and enjoys a 
good medical practice." 

Dr. Tomo Inouye, a graduate of the Naga- 
saki Methodist school for girls, is another of 
Tokyo's leading women physicians. In 1895 
she came to America and entered the Homeo- 
pathic Medical College in Cleveland, working 
her own way and graduating with honour 



178 Education of Women in Japan 

three years later. The following year she en- 
tered the medical department of the University 
of Michigan, graduating there in 1901. She 
now has an office in Tokyo, but her principal 
work is among the girl students of the city, 
as she is the regular attending physician in 
several of the large schools. Dr. Inouye has 
had to meet some criticism from conservative 
people in Japan who feel that women should 
not be engaged in public work, " but," says 
the Japan Evangelist^ " her uniform courtesy, 
excellent tact, and high Christian character 
have won for her a warm place in the hearts of 
many of Tokyo's citizens." 

An interesting example of the impression 
made by the life of another Christian woman 
physician was given some years ago, when Dr. 
Hishakawa of the Presbyterian Mission was 
brought to trial, because her report of a case 
of typhoid fever which she was treating had 
not been received by the proper government 
officials. It transpired that the servant who 
had carried the report had dropped it into the 
wrong box, and Dr. Hishikawa was enabled 
to prove to the court's satisfaction that she 
had done her part in complying with the law. 
The tribute paid her by the counsel for the 
defence was perhaps worth the trouble and 
annoyance caused her by the incident. "Had 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 179 

I no proofs whatever but the word of this 
woman," he said, '' it would be sufficient, for 
she is a Christian and cannot be induced to 
tell a falsehood. She has received her educa- 
tion in Christian schools, her medical educa- 
tion in Christian America, and her word is 
good. She is a fit example of what I wish 
many of our women were; she has devoted her 
life to the good of her sex and of little chil- 
dren. She is known and trusted by all the 
people in the northwestern section of our city." 
In Japan, as in other lands, more women 
are engaged in teaching than in any other pro- 
fession. Inasmuch as there were no schools 
for girls prior to the Restoration, this is a 
comparatively new occupation for Japanese 
women, but it is probably the first profession 
to be entered by them. As early as 1874 there 
were seventy-four women studying in normal 
schools in Japan. The rapidly increasing 
number of women students in these schools, 
and the subsequent establishment of normal 
schools for women only, are indications of the 
fact that the new Japan early deemed teaching 
a fitting occupation for its women. That Japa- 
nese women have been eminently successful 
in this line of work is convincingly attested in 
numerous ways. The large number of women 
employed in both public and private schools, 



i8o Education of Women in Japan 

the government's policy of sending particu- 
larly able young women abroad to fit them- 
selves for some special line of teaching, the 
Emperor's decoration of prominent v^omen 
educators, — all these are evidences of the uni- 
versal respect accorded the woman teacher. 

Enough has been said in preceding chapters 
to show the type and quality of work being 
done by women in government, missionary, 
and private schools. As teachers of almost 
every subject, from the kindergarten to the 
higher normal schools, and from one end of 
the empire to the other, they are exerting an 
immeasurable influence on the life of the na- 
tion, and even upon neighbouring countries, 
for China, Korea, Siam, and Hawaii have all 
sought their services. Some idea of the 
number of women who are desirous of giving 
themselves to this work may be gained from 
the fact that in 1906 only twenty per cent, of 
those who applied for admission to the gov- 
ernment normal schools could be admitted. 
Although many of the mission and private 
schools, as well as the government institutions, 
are preparing girls to be teachers, there is not 
yet adequate provision for those who wish to 
receive thorough training, nor is the supply of 
well-equipped teachers equal to the demand for 
them. There are at present 30,000 women 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan i8i 

teaching in primary and high schools through- 
out Japan. 

Woman's share in literature is not an al- 
together new thing in Japan. Many of the 
finest pieces of Japan's ancient literature are 
the work of women, and it is natural that in 
the new day which is dawning for the women 
of Japan, several should be turning to some 
form of literary work. 

Among the most prominent women writers 
of modern Japan are Madame Atomi, head of 
the Atomi Girls' School, who is well known 
for her writings in Chinese ; Madame Shimoda, 
Saisho Atsuka, famous for her poems; Miss 
Tanabe, Madame Koganei, and Madame 
Nakajima, writers of fiction; and Mrs. Ozaki 
Yukio, who has published several descriptions 
of Japanese life, past and present, in English, 
some of her work having been published in 
America. 

There are now several magazines for 
women published in Japan, a number of which 
are edited by women. The Meiji No Joshi, 
the organ of the Young Women's Christian 
Association, which has a monthly issue of 
about seven hundred copies, is edited by Miss 
Okonogi, a Wellesley girl, assisted by Miss 
Kohashi, a graduate of the Woman's Uni- 
versity, who has had special training in maga- 



1 82 Education of Women in Japan 

zine work. The Woman's Herald, pub- 
lished by the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, is another well-known magazine edited 
by a woman. Mrs. Kashi Iwamoto, a woman 
well known for " the exquisite taste she ever 
displayed in her writings and translations," 
was for some time the editor of a woman's 
magazine, and for the two years preceding 
her death edited the women's and children's 
department of the Japan Evangelist. 

Women are now working on some of the 
leading newspapers of Japan. As long ago 
as 1886 the first woman was appointed to the 
editorial staff of one of the best newspapers 
in Tokyo, and women are now connected with 
five of the daily papers of that city. Several 
women are working as reporters, and some of 
them seem to be very successful. The Japan 
Mail makes the following comment on a 
woman reporter's account of an interview with 
Count Katsu, sometimes known as the Count 
of Hikawa. " The above report of the Count's 
conversation is rendered in plain and graceful 
language. We notice Miss Ikuno's accounts 
of interviews show a wonderful power of re- 
producing the exact tone of the conversation. 
In the present case, for instance, she has re- 
tained all the characteristic phraseology and 
accentuation of the distinguished statesman so 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 183 

successfully that the reader imagines himself 
listening to the veritable Count of Hikawa." 

Painting and drawing have always been con- 
sidered womanly pursuits in Japan, but only 
recently has it been deemed fitting that 
women should make art a profession. Many 
Japanese women are to-day, however, in the 
forefront of the artists of their country. One 
of them, Noguchi Shokin, is regarded as the 
foremost artist of the Chinese school of art. 
She is especially famous for her landscape 
painting, and is an Art Commissioner to the 
Court. Madame Atomi, the well-known edu- 
cator and writer, is another prominent artist 
of the Chinese school. Her sister, Atomi 
Tamae, is among the leading artists of the 
Classical school. She has the honour of being 
the first woman artist to be given an order to 
do painting for the Imperial palaces, and is 
the first artist who has been allowed to sign 
her name to work in the palace. Kammuira 
Sho-en, a woman of Kyoto, whose paintings 
of women have been awarded many medals 
in art exhibits, is also of the Classical school. 
A high tribute was paid a Japanese artist, 
Shokin Joshi, at the Columbian Exposition in 
Chicago in 1893, when a specimen of her work 
was awarded the first prize in the Woman's 
Building. 



184 Education of Women in Japan 

Music is the chosen profession of a few 
Japanese women. Two of the professors of 
the Tokyo Musical Academy are women, Miss 
Nobu and Mrs. Ando, both of whom were sent 
abroad by the government to study music. 
Miss Shibata is another well-known musician 
of Tokyo. She is a graduate of the New 
England Conservatory of Music and is now 
teaching vocal and piano music in the Aoyama 
Jo Gakuin. 

The broadening horizon of Japanese women 
is perhaps nowhere more clearly shown than 
in the women's organizations which have 
come into being within the last four decades. 
Women have banded themselves together in 
clubs and societies, large and small, for 
the achievement of a great variety of pur- 
poses. 

There are several organizations with edu- 
cational aims of one kind or another. The 
largest of these is probably the Woman's Edu- 
cational Society, established in 1888 by a little 
group of thirty women, its purpose being " self- 
improvement, and the spread of knowledge 
among women." The membership grew very 
rapidly, and increased to about four hundred 
within ten years. The Princess Mori, the 
Princess San jo, the Marchioness Nabeshima, 
and other influential women have been very 




X 



u 






o 



>^ 



t-^ 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 185 

active members. Monthly meetings, at which 
leading educators have given addresses, have 
been very largely attended; a monthly maga- 
zine has been issued; and an industrial school 
for girls has been supported and conducted by 
the Society. 

One of the largest women's organizations 
is the Women's Hygienic Association, which 
aims to increase the knowledge of Japanese 
women regarding the laws of health. The 
Association has a membership of several thou- 
sand, and holds frequent meetings at which 
lectures are given and opportunity for discus- 
sion afforded. 

The Mothers' Union of Japan, which was 
first formed about fifteen years ago, is a very 
active and flourishing organization. At the 
annual meeting of the Union in 1906, reports 
were given from twenty-five centres, each rep- 
resenting from one to seven local circles, each 
circle representing, on an average, forty women. 
In some of the larger cities mothers' meetings 
are held in connection with the schools, good 
speakers being secured to address them. One 
mothers' circle in Tokyo made a special study 
of children's clothing a few years ago, wath a 
view to introducing costumes w^hich should be 
at the same time economical, healthful, and 
becoming. A pattern bureau w^as established. 



1 86 Education of Women in Japan 

and patterns were offered to mothers in any 
part of Japan for five cents apiece. 

A very interesting organization of women 
was that formed for the purpose of preparing 
an exhibit of Japanese women's work to be 
sent to the World's Fair held in Chicago in 
1892. A paragraph in the Japan Weekly Mail 
gives some idea of the large responsibility 
undertaken by these women. " The associa- 
tion is divided into three sections; first, the 
section of general business, which attends to 
all correspondence, translations, advertise- 
ments, publications, matters of account, collec- 
tion of necessary articles, packing, carriage, 
insurance, etc.; secondly, the section of in- 
vestigation, whose function Is to compile and 
prepare all documents and Illustrations bearing 
upon the various employments of women, 
their education, their literary productions, and 
the charitable works carried on by their efforts; 
and thirdly, the section of exhibits which has 
to do with determining, choosing, and collect- 
ing articles for exhibition, preparing lists of 
them and deciding their manner of arrange- 
ment." 

A very large amount of work is being ac- 
complished by philanthropic societies of 
women. Women are doing much for the sick. 
" The first work that Interested Japanese women 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 187 

as a whole in public charity was the care of 
the sick," says Miss Tsuda. " The founding 
of hospitals and schools for nurses has es- 
pecially appealed to Japanese women, without 
distinction of rank or religion." 

One of the oldest women's societies is the 
Tokyo Charity Hospital Association, to which 
many Japanese women of rank and influence 
belong. The Tokyo Charity Hospital was es- 
tablished by this organization in 1887, and 
has been carried on by it ever since. The 
Association has a large membership, and is 
doing a very useful work. The present Em- 
press Dowager has always been a deeply in- 
terested member of the Association and one 
of the most generous contributors to the work 
of the hospital. The ten women who act as 
directors of the hospital work are all appointed 
by her. 

Poor and orphaned sick children are the 
especial care of the Ikuji society, an organiza- 
tion with a membership of over two thousand 
women. The society investigates the cases of 
sick children whose friends cannot afford to 
give them proper medical treatment and places 
them in hospitals where they can receive the 
care they need. 

Japan has a larger percentage of insanity 
than any other nation, and one organization 



1 88 Education of Women in Japan 

of women devotes its entire energy to caring 
for these unfortunate people. Baroness San- 
nomiya, a Christian woman who is prominent 
in all good works, is one of the most active 
members of the Ladies' Aid Association for 
Lunatics. 

The Voluntary Nurses' Association was 
established in 1888 by Princess Arisugawa and 
twenty-eight other women of the nobility, who 
proposed to learn the principles of nursing, 
and thus encourage medical knowledge among 
women and also prepare themselves to be of 
service in time of war. The Association met 
twice a month for instruction from good 
physicians and surgeons, and developed into an 
organization well able to render efficient serv- 
ice to the soldiers wounded in the Chinese- 
Japanese war. At this time the Association 
became affiliated with the Red Cross Society, 
and is now known as the Red Cross Ladies' 
Nursing Association. It has forty-one 
branches and almost ten thousand members. 

A very large work was done by the women 
of this Association during the Russian-Japa- 
nese war in 1904-05, under the leadership of 
H. L H. Princess Komatsu, the president, 
Marchioness Nabeshima, the manager, the 
Marchioness Oyama, wife of the General-in- 
Chief of the army, and other able and patriotic 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 189 

women. Meetings were held every Friday at 
the Red Cross Headquarters in Tokyo, at 
which lectures were given by physicians, fol- 
lowed by lessons in bandaging; and every 
Wednesday afternoon large companies of 
women met at the Red Cross Hospital to make 
bandages. Some of the women went to the 
front to help nurse the wounded there, others 
did the work of nurses in the city hospitals 
to which the soldiers were sent, and others 
gave much time to visiting in the military hos- 
pitals, distributing magazines, writing letters 
for the wounded soldiers, and helping them in 
any way possible. 

A more recently organized society, which 
supplements the work of the Red Cross Nurs- 
ing Association, is Aikoku Fujinkwai, or the 
Woman's Patriotic League. This League was 
organized in 1901 by Madame Okamura for 
the purpose of raising money to be used for 
the help of disabled soldiers and the families 
of those killed in battle. Madame Okamura 
went from one end of Japan to the other, fir- 
ing her countrywomen with patriotic fervour 
and urging them to deny themselves in order 
to contribute to the needs of those who were 
sacrificing so much for their country's good. 
One who heard her speak to an audience of 
about six hundred men and women says : '' I 



190 Education of Women in Japan 

have attended many lectures in Japan, but I 
never saw one presided over by a man who 
could command such order as this woman. . . . 
She kept her audience spellbound, and no man 
could have made more of an impression on 
such a mixed audience. . . . Her zeal, her 
earnestness, and her home thrusts were so 
vigorous as to be remembered." 

" Economize one scarf's cost and give it to 
the country," was Mrs. Okumura's plea, and 
Japan's patriotic women have responded in ever 
increasing numbers. The League has grown 
with almost incredible rapidity. In the year 
1907-08 alone 143,000 new names were added 
to a membership already over 500,000. The 
League did valiant service during the war with 
Russia, sending many comforts to soldiers and 
sailors, helping to care for the families left 
behind, and giving aid to those whose fathers 
and brothers did not come back from the war. 

The part played by the women of Japan as 
a whole during the war is an inspiring story. 
Nothing that women could do was unthought 
of or neglected; no task was too difficult to 
be undertaken, no sacrifice too great to be 
made. Miss Baucus tells of what she saw of 
the work in Yokohama during a brief visit 
there. " On our arrival at the station we were 
welcomed by two or three of the little band of 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 191 

women who at the beginning of the war set 
themselves the task of meeting every train 
of soldiers that passed. Day or night, rain or 
shine, these women have never failed. Ad- 
mitted to the platform without question, they 
have not let a soldier go without the sympathy 
of their presence and parting banzai." 

Mrs. MacNair of Tokyo wrote of the sys- 
tematic way in which the women of that city 
undertook to care for the families of those 
away at the war. " The large Educational 
Society of Tokyo," she writes, " resolved it- 
self into a * Family Comforting Association.' 
The city was districted and arrangements 
were made to visit every house from which a 
soldier had gone. . . . Where necessary, finan- 
cial aid is given, but as far as possible the 
actual circumstances of each household are 
ascertained and whatever work the govern- 
ment can supply is provided." 

The school girls expressed their loyalty in 
many very practical ways. When it was 
learned that one of the chief needs of the sol- 
diers was for woollen stockings, the girls of the 
Tokyo schools at once pledged themselves to 
knit 1500 pairs during their New Year vaca- 
tion. Again, when just as the students were 
about to leave for their summer vacations, an 
appeal came for underwear for the soldiers. 



192 Education of Women in Japan 

many girls gladly postponed their home- 
going and worked steadily through the intense 
heat of Japan's July until they had made the 
needed number of sets of underwear. The 
students of the Peeresses' School omitted re- 
freshments at the time of their annual athletic 
exhibition, buying material for bandages with 
the money thus saved and making over 8000 
bandages for use at the front. The students of 
the Woman's University too gave themselves 
to bandage-making under the direction of a 
nurse from the Red Cross Hospital, and addled 
several hundred rolls to those sent from Tokyo. 
Comfort bags, containing gloves, handker- 
chiefs, and all sorts of useful articles, were 
sent to the soldiers by the hundreds from girls' 
schools. 

Much was done also for the comfort and 
pleasure of the wounded in the military hos- 
pitals. One school in Tokyo, the Jogakkon, 
sent 3600 books and magazines to the hospitals. 
The Peeresses' School gave a graphophone to 
the Red Cross Hospital, and the girls of the 
high school connected with the Tokyo Girls' 
Higher Normal School painted innumerable 
picture postal cards for the patients at the 
Naval Hospital at Saseko. These girls also 
decided to give their annual athletic exhibition 
at the Military Hospital instead of on their 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 193 

own grounds. The convalescents at the Red 
Cross Hospital were also cordially invited 
and on the appointed day over three thousand 
patients enjoyed the games, races, songs, and 
drills of the athletic school girls of modern 
Japan. It is the custom of the girls to have 
a feast of various delicacies after the exhibi- 
tion, but on this occasion the money which 
would ordinarily have been used in this way 
was devoted to the purchase of books and 
games for the members of the audience. 

A by no means insignificant sum of money 
was contributed to the war and relief work 
by the school girls of Tokyo. Different means 
of raising money were adopted by different 
schools. The girls in the Higher Normal 
School saved 150 yen by giving up cake and 
fruit once or twice a week for a given period. 
Other schools had banks in which the students 
put whatever amounts they could save. The 
industrial schools had sales of their work. 
A number of schools gave entertainments of 
different kinds, and the appreciative audiences 
which attended them gave evidence of the fact 
that modern Japan does not insist upon keep- 
ing its women in seclusion. The students of 
the Tokyo Academy of Music raised 1600 yen 
by a concert, dividing the sum between the 
army and navy. The students of Jogakkon 



194 Education of Women in Japan 

earned money by giving a series of tableaux 
representing scenes of ancient history, and 
"The Pied Piper of Hamelin " and "The 
Taming of the Shrew " were presented by the 
girls of Miss Tsuda's school. 

In many ways the women of Japan gave 
evidence again and again during the war not 
only of their enthusiastic loyalty to their coun- 
try, but also of their ability to make large 
plans and carry them through to successful 
achievement. 

A large amount of philanthropic work is 
being carried on under religious auspices. The 
Fukuden Society, which is based upon the Bud- 
dhist doctrine of benevolence, was organized 
by a group of Buddhist women in 1879. ^^ 
conducts a large orphanage, where children 
are given an elementary education and indus- 
trial training. When the children are fifteen 
years old suitable positions are found for them 
in which they can be self-supporting. 

Christian women are playing a very large 
part in the charitable work in Japan, both by 
uniting heartily in the work of such non-sec- 
tarian organizations as the Red Cross Society 
and through distinctively Christian movements. 
Miss Tsuda points out that " in the depart- 
ment of social and moral reform almost the 
only work done hitherto has been by Chris- 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 195 

tian women." Almost every church has its 
woman's society which carries on some form 
of benevolent work, and such organizations as 
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 
the King's Daughters Society, and the Young 
Women's Christian Association unite the 
Christian women throughout the country in 
good works. 

The Woman's Christian Temperance Union 
has been one of the most active forces for 
good in Japan for more than a quarter of a 
century. When Mrs. Mary C. Leavitt visited 
Japan in the interests of the Woman's Chris- 
tian Temperance Union in 1886 she found an 
ardent sympathizer in Mrs. Yajima, principal 
of the Presbyterian Joshi Gakuin; and a branch 
of the international organization was estab- 
lished in Japan during that year, with Mrs. 
Yajima as president. The movement has 
grown steadily in strength and numbers and in 
1907 reported sixty-nine branches in different 
parts of Japan, with a membership of approxi- 
mately 5000. The members pledge themselves 
to total abstinence and seek " to improve public 
morality and eradicate social evils, especially 
wine-drinking and smoking, to work for social 
purity and to change customs and manners for 
the better." The Union publishes two tem- 
perance magazines, one of which has a sub- 



196 Education of Women in Japan 

scription list of 1200, the other of 11,000; 
conducts a Rescue Home which endeavours to 
do both preventive and reformative v^ork; 
carries on a night school for young women; 
and does a large work among children. 
" Without doubt the most encouraging of all 
our work," reads a recent report, " is that 
being done for the children through the Loyal 
Temperance Legion." This work is in charge 
of Miss Azuma Moriya, a young Japanese 
woman who spends much of her time in travel- 
ling through the country, enlisting many hun- 
dreds of the children of Japan in the temper- 
ance movement. The following paragraph 
gives some idea of the work she is doing: 

" Miss Azuma Moriya, national organizer 
of the Loyal Temperance Legion, spent the 
first two weeks of March in Kofu, working 
with the ladies of the Canadian Methodist 
Mission. During that time she made addresses 
in seven government primary schools, two sew- 
ing schools, one silk factory, one young 
women's meeting, a mothers' meeting held for 
the mothers of kindergarten children, five 
women's meetings in villages around Kofu, 
and also was the chief speaker at a Sunday 
School Rally to which were gathered one 
thousand children." 

No account of the work of the Woman's 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 197 

Christian Temperance Union of Japan would 
be complete which did not tell of the woman 
who organized it, and who has been its moving 
spirit ever since its birth. Mrs. Yajima has 
given her life to two great objects, the promo- 
tion of woman's education and the temperance 
movement, and during all the years that she 
has been teaching in the Presbyterian schools 
for girls she has also been devoting herself 
to the work of the Woman's Christian Tem- 
perance Union. She was its first president, 
and has been almost its only one, for while 
she has sometimes been obliged to resign on 
account of illness, she has each time been per- 
suaded to resume her leadership of the work 
when her health permitted. This has meant 
no light burden. " Only those who have been 
at the heart of the movement here can know 
how very arduous the Kyofokwai work has 
been, and what patience it has cost its first 
advocates to work it up in the face of all man- 
ner of obstacles to its present state of growth," 
says a writer in the Japan Evangelist. 

Mrs. Yajima has now passed her eightieth 
birthday, but she is still giving herself to the 
work of the Temperance Union with unabated 
energy. In 1906 she was invited by the 
World's Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union to attend its convention in Boston, and 



198 Education of Women in Japan 

although she had never been outside of Japan 
before, she did not hesitate to take the long 
journey to America alone. A recent note in 
the Japan Evangelist reports that " Mrs. Kaji 
Yajima spent the New Year holidays travelling 
in the interests of the W. C. T. U. She vis- 
ited Wakayama, Osaka, and Kobe, in the first 
place organizing a new Union and helping to 
arouse much temperance sentiment, and in 
Kobe addressing an educational meeting to 
which all the primary teachers of the city were 
invited." 

Her most recent work has been the leader- 
ship of a joint campaign of the Temperance 
Union, the Salvation Army, and the Young 
Men's Christian Association, organized for the 
purpose of preventing the rebuilding of the 
Yoshiwara, the quarter of the city given up 
to houses of prostitution, which was destroyed 
by fire in the winter of 191 1. Twenty thou- 
sand handbills were distributed throughout 
Tokyo advertising a mass meeting to be held 
in the interests of the campaign. Mrs. Yajima 
was the chairman of this meeting, presiding 
throughout and introducing all the speakers. 
The petition asking that the rebuilding of the 
Yoshiwara be forbidden was drawn up by 
Mrs. Yajima, and she herself obtained ten 
thousand signatures to it, and in person pre- 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 199 

sented them to the Mayor of Tokyo. Dr. 
Pettee's tribute is well deserved : '^ Perhaps no 
untitled Japanese woman has served on more 
important committees, graced more social 
functions, or exerted a wider influence in the 
moral uplift of the nation than modest Mrs. 
Yajima. She is loved and honoured alike by 
her own people, and by foreigners, by Chris- 
tians and other religionists, by those of high 
state, and also by the lowly poor." 

Another woman who has done much to 
strengthen the work of the Woman's Christian 
Temperance Union is Mrs. Ninomiya, presi- 
dent of the Yokohama branch. Like Mrs. 
Yajima, she too has been a leader both in 
temperance work and Christian education. 
For twenty-five years she has superintended 
the educational work of the Methodist mission 
in Yokohama, and has so won the respect and 
confidence of the people of that city that when 
a lot was being leased for a day nursery there 
some time ago, and the owner, according to 
custom, asked for security, he was told by the 
clerk at the registry office, " Oh, if it is for 
Mrs. Ninomiya no security is needed." Miss 
Lewis says : *' It is not too much to say that 
her Christian home, her life, and work have 
been among the strongest forces for good in 
Yokohama for twenty-five years. As Presi- 



200 Education of Women in Japan 

dent of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union, as one of the managers of the Young 
Women's Christian Association, of the Charity 
Hospital, and of the Orphanage, she is known 
far beyond the Christian circle." 

It is impossible to close even a brief sum- 
mary of the philanthropic and social work 
being done by the women of Japan without ref- 
erence to the inspiration and example given 
them through nearly fifty years by their Em- 
press, the present Empress Dowager. " The 
fact that so much has been done in charities, 
and that women of high rank are interested 
in works of the kind, is due without doubt to 
the fact that a most gracious and enlightened 
woman is their leader," says Miss Tsuda. 
** This is no other than Her Majesty the Em- 
press, whose love toward her country and peo- 
ple shows itself in a thousand ways, and is 
known all over the land. There is no charity 
or good work that does not appeal to her 
heart." 

The Empress' patronage of various schools 
and hospitals and her membership in many 
educational and charitable associations have 
been by no means merely formal. She has 
given generously of her money to a large 
number of institutions and organizations, but 
she has given of her time and energy with equal 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 201 

lavishness. Such notes as the following ap- 
pear again and again in the diary of the 
year. 

''May 2^. — The Empress is present at the 
general meeting of the Ladies' Patriotic Asso- 
ciation held at Aoyama. 

June I. — The i6th general meeting of the 
Japan Red Cross Society at Hibiya Park. The 
Empress is present on the occasion. 

June 5. — The Empress proceeds to the Girls' 
Higher Normal School. 

July 8. — The Empress proceeds to the Deaf 
and Dumb School." 

" She whose presence was in the past so 
sacred that the highest in the land dare not 
approach her except in the most lowly attitude, 
now stoops beside the bedside of the sick and 
suffering ones of the poorest of the land," Miss 
Tsuda writes. " In the sacred interior of the 
palace she has prepared with her own hands 
lint and bandages for the wounded soldiers in 
the late rebellion. In her frequent visits to the 
Red Cross Hospital she witnesses what many 
might without shame shrink from, the sight 
of suffering and sickness; nor does she hesi- 
tate to pass by the poorest wards of the Char- 
ity Hospital, where sin and suffering have 



202 Education of Women in Japan 

brought the dregs of society to the only place 
they could be cared for; and to sick children, 
she has with her own hands given toys. She 
personally takes an interest in every part of 
the institution and inspects all the departments. 
It would be possible to give many charming 
stories of her goodness and kindness. Such a 
gracious example must leave a most lasting 
impression and do infinite good for the future 
of Japanese women." 

The graciousness of the Empress extends 
even to the enemies of her country. During 
the war with China she gave artificial limbs 
to all the soldiers who had lost arms or legs 
in battle, not only to the Japanese soldiers, 
but to all Chinese prisoners in Japan as well; 
and when Viceroy Li was wounded she sent 
him bandages which she herself had made. 
During that long hot summer of 1895, when 
China and Japan were at war, the Empress re- 
fused to accompany the court to Hiroshima, 
but remained in Tokyo to prepare lint and 
bandages for the wounded. 

It is difficult to draw a sharp dividing line 
between the religious work being done by Japa- 
nese women and their social and philanthropic 
activities, for many women's religious organi- 
zations are doing, as has been seen, a large 
amount of benevolent work. Miss Tsuda tells 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 203 

us that " in imitation of the work of Christian 
women there have been Buddhist societies for 
charity, philanthropy, and reform work. 
Though of only a recent growth," she says, 
" they have successfully imitated their Chris- 
tian sisters and do much good." During the 
Russian war one society of Buddhist women 
published two tracts for soldiers, one on 
Bravery, the other on Peace of Heart. Thou- 
sands of copies of these were sent to Man- 
churia and distributed among the men. An- 
other Buddhist organization, the Woman's 
Association of the Temple Sect, is now pro- 
posing to establish a Buddhist college for 
women. There are also purely religious so- 
cieties of Buddhist women, the purpose of 
which is to propagate some special doctrine, 
or to raise money for some temple. Some of 
these societies are very influential and succeed 
in raising large sums of money. 

There are now fourteen schools for the 
training of Christian women workers, in which 
there were 199 pupils in 19 12. Most of the 
women in these schools go out to do the work 
of " Bible women," some of them acting as 
pastors' assistants, and helping in almost every 
line of church work; others going out, often 
with missionaries, into country districts where 
there is no organized missionary work, fre- 



204 Education of Women in Japan 

quently telling the Christian story to those who 
have never heard it before. 

Many of Japan's most able and influential 
women are giving much time and thought to 
the work of the Young Women's Christian 
Association. The work of this organization 
was begun in 1905 at the request of the mis- 
sionary body, and is now one of the strongest 
forces for all good things in the life of the 
young womanhood of Japan. While it is a 
part of the World's Young Women's Christian 
Association, and is connected in a very vital 
way with the National Committees of the 
Young Women's Christian Associations of the 
United States and Canada by whom its Ameri- 
can secretaries are supported, yet the Japanese 
National Committee has full power to form all 
policies, regulate all work, and control the 
secretarial force. Both the National Commit- 
tee and the Board of Directors of the local 
Tokyo Association have Japanese chairmen 
and two-thirds of the members of both bodies 
are Japanese. Most of the committee work is 
also directed by Japanese chairmen. 

One of the first pieces of work done by the 
Young Women's Christian Association of 
Japan was the establishment of two dormi- 
tories for the use of girls from outside of 
Tokyo who were attending schools in the city. 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 205 

Such dormitories were, and still are, among 
the most pressing needs of girl students. Two 
capable Christian Japanese women are the 
matrons of these dormitories, and in them 
girls from thirty-seven different schools are 
finding not only a safe and economical place 
in which to live, but a real home, where there 
is some one who is personally interested in 
each one of them. 

There are now four city and fourteen stu- 
dent associations in Japan with a total mem- 
bership of 15,132. Forty voluntary Bible 
classes are conducted by the Association, most 
of them led by Japanese women. A magazine 
is published monthly. A summer conference 
is held each year, attended by a large company 
of young women; two hundred and twenty- 
eight were present in the summer of 19 12. 
No one who has once attended one of these 
conferences can ever doubt either the executive 
ability, the power of public speaking, or the 
depth of consecration of the Christian Japanese 
women who are its leaders. The business 
manager, the chairman of the committee on 
arrangements, the presiding officer, and many 
of the best speakers are Japanese women. 
These conferences are doing a work of great 
value, both in deepening the spiritual lives of 
the Christian girls and inspiring them to high 



2o6 Education of Women in Japan 

service, and in bringing non-Christian girls to 
a knowledge and acceptance of Christianity. 

Within the last year a Japanese woman has 
been called to the national secretaryship of the 
Association. Miss MacDonald, American 
national secretary, speaks in the following 
strong terms of this action: "It is perhaps 
no exaggeration to say that the most important 
step that the Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciation of Japan has taken since its inception, 
was the calling of Miss Michi Kawai, Bryn 
Mawr, 1904, to the national secretaryship. . . . 
There is no doubt that her coming into the 
work will mark an altogether new epoch in its 
advancement." 

Miss Kawai has given abundant proof of 
her ability as a Christian leader. When in 
1907 the World's Student Christian Federa- 
tion held its biennial conference in Tokyo, 
bringing together prominent Christian leaders 
from almost every country in the world, Miss 
Kawai was one of the speakers who left the 
deepest impression on the conference. Two 
years later she was asked to spend the greater 
part of a year travelling among the Young 
Women's Christian Associations of America 
and Great Britain, promoting interest in the 
women of the Orient. During this time she 
attended several summer conferences of the 




■f. 

o 

> 



U 



X 



Woman's Life in Modern Japan 207 

Young Women's Christian Associatioii, teach- 
ing a mission study class of two hundred 
young women at one of them, and visited a 
large number of cities and colleges. Every- 
where she made friends not only for herself 
but for the women she represented. To hun- 
dreds of young women she was a revelation 
of the possibilities of Japanese womanhood 
which they can never forget. Miss Kawai was 
chairman of the missionary section of the con- 
ference of the World's Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association held in Berlin in 1910 and 
gave one of the addresses of the conference. 
She created as great an impression in Germany 
as in Great Britain and America. " She was 
like the freshness of a new revelation from 
God," a German woman student declared. 

Upon her return to Japan Miss Kawai was 
chosen as the chairman of the Woman's Sub- 
committee of the World's Student Christian 
Federation. That she should be chosen out of 
all the Christian women student leaders the 
world over for a position of such responsi- 
bility is a strong testimony to her ability and 
character. 

Miss Kawai brings to her new position an 
unusual background of knowledge of Christian 
work for young women in other countries, but 
she brings to it also a thorough knowledge of 



2o8 Education of Women in Japan 

the needs and problems of the young women 
of her own land, especially of the students. 
As a teacher in Miss Tsuda^s school and also 
for a time in the Tokyo Girls' Higher Normal 
School she has had intimate contact with the 
girls of both a private and a government insti- 
tution; and at the summer conferences of the 
Young Women's Christian Association of 
Japan and as a member of the Board of Di- 
rectors of the Tokyo Association she has 
learned to know girls from many other schools 
also. It is interesting to note that Miss Kawai 
is supported entirely by the Japanese. 

Truly the old order changeth. Modern 
Japan is not only permitting its women to 
have a part in the industrial and professional, 
social and spiritual life of the nation, but is 
making work along these lines possible for 
them by active cooperation and support. 



A' 



VIII 

THE OUTLOOK 

LL Asia is the ship, Japan is the rud- 
der," said Joseph Cook some thirty- 
years ago. The same thought was 
more recently expressed by Galen M. Fisher, 
secretary of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation of Japan, in a cablegram to the Quad- 
rennial Convention of the Student Volunteer 
Movement in 1906, " Japan is leading the 
Orient, but whither?" What country will 
eventually be the leader of the Orient only 
the future can show, but certain it is that the 
Island Empire of the East is now, and prob- 
ably always will be, one of the most potent 
forces in Asia. She was the first Oriental 
country to come out of isolation and take her 
place among the great nations of the world, 
and it is but natural that the other countries 
of the East, struggling with problems which 
she has in part at least solved, should look 
to her and be greatly influenced by her ex- 
ample. 

The last two words of Mr. Fisher's cable- 

209 



2IO Education of Women in Japan 

gram are significant. Whither Japan will lead 
her newly-awakened neighbours is not yet 
clear. It is not yet evident whether the forces 
of materialism or Christianity will control the 
rudder of the ship of Asia. The answer to 
that question, however, will be very largely 
determined by the type of education which the 
young people of Japan receive. 

The government has made provision for the 
education of both girls and boys in primary 
schools, high schools, and normal schools, and 
has also established Universities for men. 
Japan is determined to offer its youth the 
finest educational opportunities available any- 
where, and there are few more carefully 
planned and executed systems of education in 
any country. From the intellectual stand- 
point there is very little to criticise, and the 
constant vigilance of the Department of Edu- 
cation gives good ground for the belief that 
any defects which still exist will soon be 
remedied. 

Compared with the work of the government 
schools, the educational opportunities offered 
the young people of Japan by the Christian 
forces of the country are inadequate or less 
effective than they should be. Many Christian 
schools are doing much excellent work; but as 
a whole, the work done in the class-rooms and 



The Outlook 211 

laboratories of missionary institutions is less 
efficient from an intellectual point of view than 
that given under government auspices. 

Equally notable and serious is the incom- 
pleteness of the Christian school system. 
There is no Christian University in Japan, and 
no fully equipped and organized school of the 
rank just below the University, for either men 
or women. 

Such a situation as this must be a matter 
of deepest concern to all who have at heart 
the highest welfare of Japan, and the conti- 
nent which she so greatly influences. Can 
Christianity possibly hope to triumph over 
agnosticism and materialism under such con- 
ditions as these? It owes its present strength. 
President Harada of the Doshisha University 
tells us, to the fact that so large a number of 
Japan's most thoroughly educated, and hence 
most influential, men are Christians. If, how- 
ever, it remains necessary for the young people 
of Japan to choose between the best available 
education and education under Christian 
auspices, this will not long continue to be true. 
For the youth of Japan will go to the insti- 
tutions which offer them the best intellectual 
advantages. And if they go to the government 
schools they will receive their education in a 
non-religious, not infrequently in an anti- 



212 Education of Women in Japan 

religious, atmosphere. A recent religious cen- 
sus of the Imperial University at Tokyo is 
appalling. The figures read: 

50 Shintoists 

60 Christians 
300 Buddhists 
1500 Atheists 
3000 Agnostics 

It would be unreasonable to expect a large 
number of strong Christian leaders to come 
from such an institution. Even those who 
enter as Christians must be very firm in their 
faith indeed if they come out stronger instead 
of weaker by reason of their years in the 
midst of doubt and disbelief in any religion 
whatsoever. 

It is a time of imminent danger in Japan; 
a time wheh the loss of faith in old beliefs 
bids fair to rob the nation of that without 
which no people can maintain strength or 
purity. This danger can be averted only by 
the substitution of the perfect truth of Chris- 
tianity in place of the partial truths of the 
religions which have lost their hold. And 
this can be done only by an immediate and 
adequate strengthening of Christian education. 
President Harada has well said: — 



The Outlook 213 

" If the falling off of Christian schools is 
not checked, Christian scholarship will be an 
inconsiderable factor in the thought and life of 
the nation in twenty or thirty years. It is cer- 
tainly a crisis calHng for resolute action and 
large policies by all the Christian forces. We 
need the best possible middle schools, where 
the foundation of high character may be laid; 
we need Christian high schools where a liberal 
education may be given ; and we need Christian 
Universities ... to produce leaders in the 
branches of knowledge. Then for the first 
time we shall be able to say that Christianity 
is firmly planted in Japan. For the consumma- 
tion of the evangelization of Japan in any true 
sense such educational institutions are a sine 
qua non, and for that reason, if for no other, 
we must continue to look for help to our 
Christian friends across the seas." 

If Christianity is to triumph in Japan, thor- 
oughly strong Christian education must be 
offered to women as well as to men. The 
future of Japan will be determined by its 
women to a far greater extent than most of 
us have been accustomed to think. We have 
long recognized and admired the gentleness, 
self-control, and remarkable self-abnegation of 
the Japanese women, but we have been less 
quick to discern the mental power and force- 



214 Education of Women in Japan 

fulness of character of which they are capable. 
" The women of Japan are powerful to a de- 
gree you cannot understand," Miss Tsuda told 
an audience of American and European women 
recently. " Women have always had a hand 
in everything in Japan. In theory they are 
perfectly powerless ; in reality they are moving 
the currents. Women in Japan are more pow- 
erful in the home than in the West; for men 
assume absolutely no kind of control in the 
home, leaving everything to the wife. The 
influence which women have exerted without 
education is marvellous." For good or for 
ill the women of Japan, to whom new chan- 
nels of influence and power are opening al- 
most daily, will play a most important part in 
determining the future character of the still 
plastic Sunrise Kingdom. It is not surpris- 
ing that a thoughtful Japanese recently de- 
clared, '' The problem of Japan at the present 
moment is the problem of its women." 

The kind of influence which the women of 
Japan will exert upon their country will be in 
large measure determined by the forces which 
are brought to bear upon them within the next 
few years. Japan has been making the transi- 
tion from medisevalism to a thoroughly mod- 
ern civilization with amazing rapidity, but it 
is inevitable that there should still be restless- 



The Outlook 215 

ness and bewilderment on the part of the 
women who are living in such a different 
world from that into which their mothers were 
born. It is a fascinatingly interesting world 
to them, but a world filled with problems and 
responsibilities for which they have had no 
preparation. Miss Tsuda justly observes, 
" Women who in the past were kept from con- 
tact with the world are now meeting all its 
allurements; whereas little power was in their 
hands, and they were fully protected from 
temptation, they are now obliged through cir- 
cumstances to act for themselves. The old- 
time conservative training and teaching do not 
touch the new conditions of life." 

The dangers of such a situation are obvious. 
Economic conditions are thrusting girls out 
from their homes into positions fraught with 
peril to the ignorant, but into which they go 
gladly because of their desire for freedom. 
Young girls in quiet country homes are lured 
by the excitement of life in a big city, but 
understand nothing of its dangers. The 
faculties of schools for girls are confronted 
with problems unknown to the guardians of 
the young women of a few years ago. Miss 
Lewis writes, " When leading educators find 
it necessary to form a body of instructions 
cautioning young women against associating 



2i6 Education of Women in Japan 

with young men unless properly guarded and 
chaperoned, we know that the actual position 
and circumstances of the girls of to-day are 
absolutely different from those of their moth- 
ers and grandmothers." 

A partial knowledge of the life of the Occi- 
dent has brought restlessness and awakened 
ambitions, not always of the highest kind. 
Miss Tsuda writes : " Women have been deeply 
influenced, like the men, by the flooding in of 
the material civilization of the West. New 
luxuries, hitherto undreamed of, rouse their 
desires. Superficial observation of the life and 
manners and thought of the West through bits 
of travel has made a deep impression, and 
western ways are often copied without full 
understanding of them. Translations of for- 
eign books, especially novels, sometimes do 
harm through lack of knowledge of the con- 
ditions of society which they represent, while 
an aggressive type of western woman, and the 
extravagance of the West, are all having their 
effect in ways far from beneficial. The mod- 
ern stage helps in the spread of new ideas, and 
young Japan turns from the simplicity of the 
past to welcome eagerly the day of material 
luxury." 

It cannot be denied that a few Japanese 
women are going to extremes which give the 



The Outlook 217 

conservatives some cause for saying that the 
new civilization is harming woman morally 
and spiritually, making her '' less refined, less 
faithful to duty, . . . selfish, luxurious, vain, 
and fond of display." Miss Tsuda tells us 
that divorce from the woman's side, although 
all the burden falls on her, is becoming more 
frequent. " Very often liberty is sought for 
in crude and curious ways," she says. Within 
the last few years women have gone on the 
stage, a profession which is an especially low 
one in Japan, and which has hitherto been 
limited to men. Last year a group of discon- 
tented women formed a society known as 
" The Blue Stockings," giving as their aim the 
encouragement of literary work among women. 
The magazine which they issue is, however, 
universally reported to be devoted to the abuse 
and arraignment of men. '' In February of 
the present year a meeting was held by this 
society at which speeches were made which in- 
dicated the desire that the freedom and license 
accorded men should also be given to women. 
It is said that six hundred women attended 
this meeting. The spirit of unrest, disturb- 
ance, and rebellion against present social con- 
ditions was shown so markedly that the gen- 
eral public stood aghast. The thoughts ex- 
pounded were revolutionary." It is startling 



21 8 Education of Women in Japan 

to learn that of forty anarchists recently ex- 
ecuted in Japan one was a woman. 

While such things as these are extremely 
regrettable, they are an almost inevitable part 
of such a period of transition, and ought not 
to decrease our faith in the fundamental 
strength and fineness of the Japanese women. 
Miss Tsuda's contention that these things are 
probably temporary is entirely just. " It is 
unreasonable," she says, " to expect Japa- 
nese women to have gained those qualities 
of mind derived from education and religion 
which safeguard modern western women in 
their free life and intercourse with the world. 
Impulses are now being set free which were 
held in check in the past by external forces, 
while there is yet lacking judgment and knowl- 
edge of true values, and restraint from within, 
to guide the awakened mind." 

Where shall the girl of Japan, who is enter- 
ing upon her womanhood in the midst of such 
confusing conditions as these, look for guid- 
ance? Will the schools which her country is 
providing for her give her the help she needs ? • 
Miss Tsuda says: 

" Modern education is trying to do this, but 
the methods are imperfect and do not always 
meet the ends. The teachers themselves often 
do not comprehend the trend of modern con- 



The Outlook 219 

ditions, they are conservative, and seek simply 
to restrain as in the past, rather than to ad- 
just and guide. Superficial education, which 
is all that the majority get, instead of better- 
ing, often increases the difficukies. Self-asser- 
tion and freedom which have come in with the 
new life have undermined the high ideals of 
duty to the family and respect to superiors in- 
culcated so deeply in feudal days. 

" Theoretically, the ordinary woman not 
under Christian teachings is now taught, in 
schools and by masters and parents, ethical 
standards not greatly changed from past ones. 
She is more or less all her life to be under the 
guidance of others, she is not to be given the 
freedom of thought or action which western 
women take for granted, her life is to be in 
the home and for the family; but in reality 
the life she often has to lead, through new 
conditions or financial necessity, calls for more 
recognition of her worth and individuality. 
The old teachings alone are not sufficient for 
the future Japanese woman, there must be more 
acknowledgment of her place and true value. 
Even to women leading more or less sheltered 
lives the awakening has come, more recogni- 
tion is demanded and will be taken, and 
knowledge is bringing its temptation and dan- 
gers." 



220 Education of Women in Japan 

Whence, then, is guidance to come? To 
quote Miss Tsuda again : 

" The restraints formed under the feudal 
days, together with many of the teachings of 
the past, are going rapidly by with the changing 
times. They will mostly pass away with the 
older generation, of whom few remain. The 
old religions have little ethical influence and 
only a feeble hold at best on modern men and 
women. Christianity zvill not replace them, hut 
rather fill a void. Japan is singularly ready 
for all the ethical ideals of Christianity in all 
points, with the exception perhaps of those 
concerning patriotism and filial duty. Chris- 
tianity especially fills the needs of women at 
this time of awakening. The glamour of west- 
ern life and the freedom of the women of 
the West attract them. They seek it without 
a knowledge of those deeper things that make 
freedom a blessing. Buddhism gave to woman 
humility, but at the price of self-effacement 
and degradation, not by the teaching of lofty 
ideals for her. It took away her individuality, 
even her soul. In the past days, less than fifty 
years ago, all the most sacred and beautiful 
places in Japan (the peak of Mount Fuji 
among them) were shut off from women, 
who were supposed to bring defilement. Chris- 
tianity places woman on a level with man, her 



The Outlook 221 

individuality and worth in herself is recog- 
nized and full scope is given to her powers. 
At the same time, by teaching self-sacrifice and 
service founded on the higher, broader ideal 
of love for others, it replaces the narrow old 
standard of self-sacrifice for the good of one's 
family. While not laying such stress on ef- 
forts for family, clan, or country, it inculcates, 
with a higher motive and on broader lines, the 
efiForts to be made for humanity in general. 
Through its ethical and philanthropic side, 
Christianity makes the strongest appeal to our 
women, an appeal which meets a wonderful 
response in the hearts of sensitive natures, 
made singularly receptive by the discipline of 
the past. 

" Christianity will make new standards of 
morality for the nation, which will be practical, 
not like the teachings of former days, often 
listened to as theories, but passed aside in 
actual life; not like the cold precepts of reason 
which in vain try to replace the old restraints 
which forced women to lead lives good and 
innocent, but lacking in activity, fire, and life. 

" The attitude of Christian men to women 
puts the woman's question on a new basis. 
The wife in a Christian home is granted all 
the privileges that belong to women of Chris- 
tian nations. The same moral standard must 



222 Education of Women in Japan 

be kept by him that is asked of her. This is 
a tremendous advance, for while there is but 
one legal wife, customs are lax for the man 
while severe for the woman. From Christian 
thought and teachings have gone out the new 
ideals accepted by many non-Christian men, 
showing the wide influence of Christian 
ethics." 

In the estimation of many, Christian schools 
for girls are the most effective possible agencies 
for bringing the knowledge of Christianity to 
the women of Japan. The girl in a Christian 
school is in daily contact with those whose 
lives as well as words show her the beauty and 
truth of Christianity. She has abundant op- 
portunity to know what the religion of Jesus 
Christ really is and what it may mean to her. 
The large percentage of graduates of mission 
schools who have become Christians is a 
strong testimony to the value of Christian 
education as a means of bringing to the women 
of Japan that in which they can find the solu- 
tion of all their problems and the satisfaction 
of all their needs. 

Moreover, an especial responsibility rests 
upon Christian educators at this time of transi- 
tion. Miss Lewis justly says, " When we 
reflect that the introduction of the education 
and ideals of the West, in which our mission 



The Outlook 223 

schools have had no small part, is responsible 
for this present condition so full of danger, 
so full of hope, can there be any question as 
to the duty and privilege of our schools in 
helping to solve the difficulties of the situa- 
tion?" 

The necessity for strengthening Christian 
educational work for women in Japan, that it 
may be able to guide the womanhood of Japan 
in this plastic period, cannot be too strongly 
emphasized. It is a critical period in the his- 
tory of Japan; a time of supreme need of 
guidance on the part of Japan's women. But 
unless Christian education for women can be 
in every respect equal to that offered by the 
government, it cannot furnish this needed guid- 
ance. So long as Christian schools have in- 
adequate equipment and teaching forces, so 
long as they permit themselves to hold lower 
educational standards than those of the gov- 
ernment, many of the strongest girls will not 
come to them. Moreover, if these conditions 
exist their graduates will be debarred from 
many avenues of usefulness and influence 
open to those who have certificates from gov- 
ernment schools. 

Christian high schools for girls ought cer- 
tainly to aim to be recognized by the Depart- 
ment of Education as the equals of the gov- 



224 Education of Women in Japan 

ernment koto jo gakko. The regulation 
issued in 1907 and put into effect in 1909, 
which refuses several important privileges 
such as entrance to government special schools 
and examination for the teacher's license to 
graduates of unrecognized schools, has been 
referred to. A school which is without gov- 
ernment recognition must always labour under 
serious disadvantages, and cannot expect to be 
regarded as among the best institutions of the 
land where the stamp of government approval 
means so much. 

There seems no ground whatever for objec- 
tion to application for government recognition 
on the basis on which Aoyama Jo Gakuin and 
several other schools have secured it. These 
schools are not classed as government schools 
and hence retain perfect freedom to do what- 
ever Christian teaching they desire; but they 
are recognized as the equals of government 
schools and accorded every privilege granted 
to regular koto jo gakko. 

The governmental requirements for schools 
which desire recognition are not at all unrea- 
sonable in any particular. The curriculum of 
the public girls' high schools is one carefully 
thought out and well adapted to the needs of 
Japanese girls. " In the Koto-jo-gakko cur- 
riculum there is little one would care to change 



The Outlook 225 

for the foundation of a general education," 
writes a missionary educator, and adds, 
" After all it is the personality of the teacher 
and his ability to teach that really educate. 
Subject-matter should be as wax in the hands 
of the teacher from which to mould ideals that 
will help the Japanese girl to adjust herself 
to her environment, so that she may be strong 
to meet temptation, to overcome difficulties 
that will meet her on every hand, in the freer 
life that has come to the Japanese woman." 
Moreover, absolutely rigid conformity to the 
koto jo gakko curriculum is not usually re- 
quired. " As far as I can judge," Miss Tsuda 
says, " the government regulations do allow 
a certain amount of freedom that would not 
prevent each school from having its own char- 
acteristic or special work." 

The government requirements as to school 
buildings, relating to the number of windows 
in the schoolroom, the cubic feet of air per 
pupil, and similar matters, are right and rea- 
sonable ; and while not a few schools may have 
to tear down old buildings and erect new, it 
will be to their ultimate advantage to do so, 
wholly apart from the question of recognition. 
The government also requires that two-thirds 
of the teaching force in a recognized school 
be holders of government licenses, and here 



226 Education of Women in Japan 

again those who are striving to render the 
best possible service to the women of Japan 
must sympathize with a regulation which aims 
to raise the standard of the teaching given 
them. 

It means sacrifice on the part of Christians 
at home so to equip the mission schools of 
Japan that they will be able to obtain govern- 
ment recognition. But it does not mean that 
sacrifices must be made in order to make ex- 
travagant expenditure possible, but rather that 
we are asked to provide those things without 
which no school can do thoroughly effective 
work. Miss Gaines is quite right in saying: 
" An institution that claims to be worthy of 
the patronage of the people must give the best 
that can be had in every line if it is to be a 
great moral institution. Nothing can take the 
place of good honest work in every depart- 
ment. A poor standard in scholarship cannot 
be overbalanced by a great number of hours 
spent in moral teaching. ... If mission 
schools cannot be up to the government stand- 
ard in every way, then in all honesty let them 
close their doors and not bring discredit on 
the mission boards of the great Christian 
Church." 

About one-third of the Christian schools 
for girls have now secured government recog- 



The Outlook 227 

nition, and it is most earnestly to be hoped 
that it will soon be possible for the others so 
to strengthen themselves that their work also 
may be ranked as equal to that given in the 
public girls' high schools. 

There was a time, not more than a quarter 
of a century ago, when our Christian schools 
for girls in Japan faced much such an oppor- 
tunity of leadership as those in China are fac- 
ing to-day. It was in their power not only 
to do an immensely valuable work in them- 
selves, but also to exert a deep influence upon 
the recently opened government education for 
women. The new government schools for 
girls in China are to-day looking to the Chris- 
tian schools of that country to supply them 
with teachers, with methods, with help of every 
sort. It is in our power, if we but strengthen 
our schools at every point so that they may be 
the best schools in China, not only morally and 
religiously but educationally, to permeate with 
Christian influence the entire educational work 
for women in one of the largest and mightiest 
of the world's nations. May no lack of reali- 
zation of the value of educational work, no 
unwillingness to sacrifice that our schools may 
have the financial support which is essential 
for vigorous work, cause us to lose this oppor- 
tunity in China, as we lost it in Japan. 



228 Education of Women in Japan 

In spite of the fact, however, that our Chris- 
tian girls' schools in Japan have lost an oppor- 
tunity which was once before them, a great 
future is still possible if they are properly 
supported. They have a real service to render 
Japan from a purely educational standpoint. 
The government of Japan is not yet able, and 
probably will not be for some time to come, 
to provide enough schools for girls. 

The supreme end, however, for the achieve- 
ment of which Christian schools for girls in 
Japan ought to be strengthened is that which 
has already been referred to; namely, the de- 
velopment of strong, efficient Christian women, 
able to guide the bewildered womanhood of 
Japan through this time of transition; to mould 
the now plastic social system into one founded 
upon Christian principles; and, most of all, 
to bring the knowledge of the abundantly sat- 
isfying religion of Jesus Christ to those who 
so sorely need its strength and comfort and 
joy. All who have at heart the welfare of 
Japanese women must sympathize with the 
Continuation Committee Conference held in 
Tokyo in April of 19 13 in its resolution to the 
effect that " The need for better equipment of 
existing Christian schools should be empha- 
sized, in order that Christian education may 
regain and maintain its leading position." 



The Outlook 229 

The following resolution of this Conference 
ought also to enlist the hearty approval and 
support of all friends of Japan. " This con- 
ference heartily commends the proposal to es- 
tablish by cooperative effort on the part of all 
the Missions a first-class Christian college for 
women, and it earnestly recommends the 
founding of such an institution at an early 
date, before the pfesent opportune time pass 
by." Such a college is considered by the mem- 
bers of the Commission on Education, ap- 
pointed to report to the Continuation Com- 
mittee Conference in Japan, *' the most urgent 
need at this present moment for the young 
women of Japan." 

For over two years the question of Chris- 
tian higher education for women has been 
given the most earnest thought of many of 
those engaged in educational work in Japan. 
In April, 191 1, when Dr. Goucher, Chairman 
of the American section of the Educational 
Committee under the Continuation Committee 
of the Edinburgh World's Missionary Con- 
ference, was visiting Japan, a meeting of those 
most interested in this question was held, and 
as a result of this meeting a committee was 
appointed to investigate the need for a Chris- 
tian college for women. After sending out 
questionnaires and holding several meetings 



230 Education of Women in Japan 

for discussion, this committee, consisting of 
twenty-five men and women, unanimously 
agreed that such a college was an imperative 
necessity. The committee's report is published 
in The Christian Movement in Japan for 19 13, 
and has furnished most of the facts given 
below. 

The opportunities now offered the young 
women of Japan for education above the high 
school grade are very few. Although the Im- 
perial Rescript on Education issued in 1873 
strongly emphasized the great importance of 
providing education for women " of the same 
grade as that for men," the only women's 
schools established by the government which 
offer work higher than that of the koto jo 
gakko are the Girls' Higher Normal Schools 
in Tokyo and Nara. These schools are dis- 
tinctly professional schools, established for the 
purpose of preparing women to be teachers in 
the girls' high schools and normal schools. 
450 women were enrolled in these two institu- 
tions in the year 1909-10. 

The Woman's University and Dr. Yoshioka's 
medical school have both been described in a 
previous chapter. The latter is, of course, dis^ 
tinctly a professional school, of service only to 
women who plan to enter the medical profes- 
sion. The Woman's University prepares 



The Outlook 231 

women to teach, and also purposes to give 
general culture to those who do not expect to 
be teachers. About 450 women are enrolled 
in its college department. The work of this 
department is by no means equal to that of 
such institutions as Vassar or Mt. Holyoke 
College, but it does offer girls some opportunity 
for three or four years' study after leaving the 
koto jo gakko. 

A few women, by special permission, are 
attending some of the lectures in the Imperial 
Universities at Tokyo and Kyoto, and Mr. 
Sawayanagi, president of the newly-established 
government University at Sendai, has an- 
nounced that qualified women will be admitted 
to the science department of this University. 
It must be remembered that these women can- 
not well be called students of the Universities; 
they cannot matriculate nor receive degrees, 
but are simply quietly admitted to the lecture 
rooms of the professors who are in sympathy 
with the higher education of women. The 
University authorities have taken no formal 
action opening their doors to women. 

Christian schools have taken a few steps 
in the direction of higher education for women. 
Miss Tsuda's school, which has already been 
described, offers advanced work in English and 
English literature to graduates of high schools 



232 Education of Women in Japan 

recognized by the government. The school 
aims to give general culture, as well as to pre- 
pare girls to teach, but as yet is offering higher 
work only in the department of English. 

The special department of the Doshisha 
Girls' School in Kyoto, is offering three years' 
advanced work in three departments: English 
literature, domestic science, and a department 
of Japanese literature just opened. The total 
enrolment in the higher departments last year 
was forty-eight. This school is a Christian 
school, connected with the Congregational 
Mission, but is wholly managed by the Japa- 
nese Congregational churches. Its higher de- 
partment, like that of Miss Tsuda's school, has 
government recognition. 

Of the mission schools proper nineteen have 
higher departments, most of them offering 
work in English, domestic science, or music. 
The courses give two or three years' work be- 
yond the high school course. In 191 2 there were 
336 students in these nineteen higher depart- 
ments. By far the largest enrolment was in 
Kobe College (Congregational) and Aoyama 
Jo Gakuin (Methodist) of Tokyo. The upper 
departments of both these schools have re- 
ceived government recognition as special 
schools, and in 1912 had a total enrolment of 
eighty girls. Very few of the higher depart- 



The Outlook 233 

ments of the mission schools have the equip- 
ment necessary for thorough college work. 
The reason why this is impossible is easily 
understood when one remembers that 336 stu- 
dents are divided among nineteen schools. 

It will be evident from the facts given above 
that the Japanese woman's opportunities for 
higher education, under either Christian or 
non-Christian influences, are few and frag- 
mentary. Only along certain special lines is 
any work whatever available, and nowhere can 
she receive the equivalent of the work offered 
women in American colleges. 

Is there a demand in Japan to-day for more 
adequate provision for the higher education 
of women? In the year 1909-10, 861 young 
women applied for admission to the two 
Girls' Higher Normal Schools. Only 213 
could be admitted. These figures speak elo- 
quently of the demand for just one type of 
advanced education. The rapid growth of 
such schools as the Woman's University and 
Miss Tsuda's English Institute also indicates 
the desire of many girls for more education 
than the high schools offer. The fact that some 
women are seeking entrance to the lecture 
rooms of the Imperial Universities gives 
further proof of a greater thirst for learning 
than can be satisfied by the work of the koto jo 



234 Education of Women in Japan 

gakko. Not a few Japanese women have gone 
to other countries in search of college educa- 
tion. There are now about twenty-five in the 
colleges of the United States. 

Greater and more important than the de- 
mand for college education for Japanese 
women, however, is the need for it. It is 
startling to realize that the men and women 
of Japan are to-day farther apart intellectually 
than in the feudal era. The women received 
less education then than now, it is true, but the 
men also received a limited training; whereas 
to-day many men go on from the boys' middle 
school to college and thence to the University, 
while, because of lack of higher schools, most 
girls stop at a stage lower than the boys' mid- 
dle schools. A Christian college for women 
will render a supremely important service to 
the cause of Christianity in Japan by making 
possible Christian homes, where educated wives 
will have a true share in the life and labours 
of their husbands. 

Perhaps nothing would do so much to 
strengthen Christian educational work for girls 
as the establishment of a Christian college 
where Japanese women could be trained for 
teaching positions of large responsibility. 
Many graduates of mission schools are now 
doing excellent work as teachers, but, for the 



The Outlook 235 

most part, in subordinate positions. Up to 
the present time the mission schools have not 
given their students sufficiently advanced work 
to enable them to undertake the heaviest re- 
sponsibilities. But the future of Christian 
education for women in Japan cannot be as- 
sured as long as its success is dependent upon 
the leadership of foreign teachers. The most 
successful missionary work is that which ulti- 
mately makes foreign missionaries unneces- 
sary. A Christian college would develop 
trained Japanese women to whom it would be 
possible for the missionary teachers to turn 
over more and more of the responsibilities 
which they are now carrying, which could 
be borne equally well, some of them better, by 
Japanese women who had received the bene- 
fits of college training. The teaching forces 
of mission schools would thus be made more 
adequate, overworked foreign teachers would 
be relieved, able Japanese leaders would be de- 
veloped, and the whole standard of school 
work would be raised. 

The necessity for a Christian college to do 
just this thing has recently been strongly stated 
by a group of leading educators in Japan. 
" If in the future Japanese women are to take 
a more leading part in educational affairs than 
they are doing at present, it is imperative that 



236 Education of Women in Japan 

there should be developed a system of higher 
Christian education than yet exists. The 
future of Christian secondary education de- 
pends largely upon the supply of eificient 
Christian teachers, and these teachers cannot 
be trained under Christian influence unless 
some form of higher Christian education is 
developed in the near future." 

A Christian college for v^omen v^ould still 
further strengthen the existing mission schools 
by tending to bring them much closer together 
than they are at present. Dr. Booth is inclined 
to consider " mutual isolation, and the lack of 
a common carefully considered and well defined 
ideal or aim," the most serious weaknesses of 
mission schools. A college for which they 
would all be preparing their students could not 
but do much to unify their curricula and bring 
them together in many ways. 

A Christian college for women would not 
only prepare teachers for the Christian schools, 
but also for public girls' high schools. It has 
been shown that the two Higher Normal 
Schools are wholly unable to accommodate the 
young women who desire to fit themselves for 
teaching positions in the secondary schools. 
By no means the least effective service of a 
Christian college would be the sending of 
strong Christian women teachers into these 



The Outlook 237 

public high schools. There would be no 
chance for religious instruction during school 
hours, it is true, but a young American teacher 
in a government school for boys testifies that 
the opportunities for personal Christian work 
among the students, outside of the class-room, 
are limited only by the time and strength of 
the teacher. Moreover the life of a teacher, 
lived day after day and week after week in 
the presence of his pupils, affords unlimited 
scope for that most convincing of witnesses, 
the silent testimony of a consistent Christian 
character. It is difficult, too, to overstate the 
influence exerted by a teacher. Miss Tsuda 
says, " The teacher's influence is next to that 
of the parents. The teacher is all-powerful. 
If you are a teacher, all doors are open to 
you." 

Not only the home and the school, but the 
changing social conditions of Japan demand a 
Christian college for women. The dangers 
and opportunities of the ever-broadening life 
which is so rapidly opening to the women of 
Japan have already been seen. One of the 
most vitally important questions in Japan to- 
day is, as Miss Tsuda has concisely put it, 
"Shall the development be under wise guid- 
ance, leading to higher lives, or shall women 
be undisciplined, impetuous, crude, unreason- 



238 Education of Women in Japan 

ing, and so not only break up the home, but 
menace the nation ? " 

College education, under Christian auspices, 
would undoubtedly give the right kind of 
guidance. It has been well said : " It is evident 
that the difficulties and problems of the present 
day as they affect the lives of the young people 
of Japan cannot be solved by greater igno- 
rance and the greater subjection of women, 
but by a larger, broader, more daring enter- 
prise. That the process will involve dangers, 
temptations, tragedies, one can scarcely doubt, 
but in the end, if the process can be directed 
by the spirit which only Christianity can bring, 
there will come to the whole nation a larger, 
truer, more enduring life. Anything in a 
nation's life which militates against, or lays 
restraint upon, the largest development of the 
life of women, will react in the end against 
the life of the nation at large." 

The influence of such a college would by 
no means be limited to those who came within 
its walls. Because of the educational oppor- 
tunities which had been given them, its grad- 
uates would inevitably be looked up to as lead- 
ers. The strong, sane, true ideals which a 
Christian college education had given them 
would be shared by them with the many whose 
lives they touched. And the wide knowl- 







OJ 

o 



The Outlook 239 

edge and acceptance of Christian ideals by the 
women who are to be the mothers and teachers 
of the Japanese of the future, will make it 
sure that the influence of the new Japan upon 
the Orient will be upward and onward. 

It goes without saying that if a Christian 
college for women is to do what is needed in 
Japan to-day it must be at least the equal, in 
every way, of the non-Christian higher schools 
for women. In buildings, equipment, teach- 
ing force, and extent and thoroughness of the 
work offered, it must be among the best in- 
stitutions of its kind in the country. Govern- 
ment recognition is of course imperative if 
the college is to attract the best type of stu- 
dents, and send its graduates out into the posi- 
tions of greatest influence. It must, needless 
to say, be thoroughly Christian in every way 
if it is to achieve its purpose. If it offers a 
high grade of work, equal to or better than 
that which can be found elsewhere, it will at- 
tract strong young women from non-Christian 
schools who may there for the first time gain 
an adequate knowledge of Christianity. 

The consensus of opinion is that such a col- 
lege should be interdenominational, supported 
and conducted by a union of the Protestant 
Christian forces represented in Japan. It has 
been suggested as an alternative that one school 



240 Education of Women in Japan 

of each denomination be raised to college 
grade, and this has already been done by some 
missions to the extent of adding a higher de- 
partment to one school. This is perhaps wise 
as a temporary expedient, but can never fur- 
nish an ultimately satisfactory solution of the 
problem. Instead of one large strong institu- 
tion there would be numerous small ones, all 
struggling with the question of finances; for 
the support of a genuine college for women 
would be an extremely heavy burden to any 
one denomination in addition to its other work. 
Such a plan would mean a vast waste of both 
workers and money. The teachers and build- 
ings and apparatus which would be necessary 
for thorough work for a small company of 
girls in the higher department of a denomina- 
tional school could with relatively small addi- 
tional expense be utilized to serve a far 
larger number. 

An equally serious objection to the plan of 
having several small colleges lies in the fact 
that they would emphasize denominational 
lines unnecessarily. " If one note sounded 
more strongly than another at the Edinburgh 
Conference," reads the report of the committee 
on the woman's college, " it was to the effect 
that the educational work on the mission fields 
should more and more tend to larger coopera- 



The Outlook 241 

tion, not only that the work might be carried 
on more effectively, but that such cooperation 
might serve to emphasize the essential unity 
of Christian work and thought in Japan. . . . 
Nothing is more necessary in Japan than to 
make every legitimate attempt within the range 
of the various types of conscience within the 
Christian Church to exalt the oneness of our 
common faith." 

It is impossible not to feel keen regret as 
one studies the history of secondary education 
for girls in Japan and realizes that those who 
were the pioneers in this splendid work were 
forced to fall behind, to the loss of much in- 
fluence and many opportunities. But one turns 
with new hope from reflections on what might 
have been to plans for what may yet be. Again 
Christian education for women has an oppor- 
tunity to do pioneer work in Japan; for noth- 
ing comparable to real college education is yet 
offered women there. Again there is an op- 
portunity to go in and possess the land, and 
take the place of leadership in higher educa- 
tion for women. When we realize how many 
of those engaged in government education are 
materialists and agnostics, when we remem- 
ber the recent religious census of the Univer- 
sity of Tokyo, can we doubt that if the higher 
education of women is left to non-Christian 



242 Education of Women in Japan 

educators it will be at incomparable loss to the 
highest welfare of Japan and of Asia? On 
the other hand, can there be any room for 
doubt that Christian college education for 
women, sending women trained to meet large 
responsibilities into the homes, the schools, the 
social life of the new Japan, will be one of the 
most powerful forces for Christianity and 
righteousness in the empire? 

Imperative as is the need for the strength- 
ening and development of Christian education 
for women, the need of efforts on behalf of 
the girls in non-Christian schools is perhaps 
no less great. 

Within the last decade there has been a large 
increase in the number of young girls from 
sixteen to twenty-five years old, who leave 
their homes and crowd into the schools of the 
large cities. It was estimated that in March, 
1910, in Tokyo alone, there were 15,000 girls 
in schools above the elementary grade. Of 
course many of these girls have homes in 
Tokyo, and others live in school dormitories, 
but there are many who come from small 
towns and villages, unprotected, and wholly 
ignorant of the dangers and hardships await- 
ing them. Some of them are quite inade- 
quately provided with money. It is little won- 
der that the problem of how to care for these 



The Outlook 243 

young women students is one which has caused 
much anxiety to the Department of Educa- 
tion and all who are interested in the welfare 
of Japanese women. 

The Young Women's Christian Association 
early recognized the need for dormitories, or 
hostels, where girls from outside of Tokyo 
could find a safe home at reasonable cost. Ac- 
cordingly in April, 1906, the Association 
opened a " student hostel," which would ac- 
commodate about thirty-five girls. Good food 
and comfortable rooms were given for $3.75 a 
month. A second dormitory was opened a few 
months later. Both these houses are in charge 
of capable Christian Japanese women, and are 
doing excellent work. 

There are seven other student hostels in 
Tokyo under Christian auspices, one conducted 
by the American Baptists, one by the Uni- 
versalists, the others by American and English 
Episcopalians. The Episcopalians also have 
a dormitory in Nagasaki and the American 
Board Mission has established one in Miyasaki. 

These homes not only give girls away from 
home a safe place in which to live, but also 
meet their equally great need for friends and 
companionship. Miss Kawai tells us that 
overstudy, poverty, and lack of recreation have 
caused many students to break down. " The 



244 Education of Women in Japan 

pleasant social functions of the Occidental 
college life are little known here," she says. 
" The pressing demand upon Japanese society 
to-day is to furnish students with a bright, 
simple, healthy, social atmosphere." This the 
Christian student hostels are doing, not only 
for the girls who live in them, but for their 
friends. The head of the dormitory is eager 
that the girls shall feel that they are in a real 
home, where they can invite their friends and 
enjoy all sorts of good times. 

Christian dormitories are also helping to 
meet the deepest and most fundamental need 
of the students in non-Christian schools. The 
lack of religion among government school stu- 
dents has already been described. Buddhism 
and Shintoism have lost practically all hold 
upon the student class, and the government 
schools, which are strictly non-religious, have 
given nothing to take their place. The result 
is that whenever a religious census is taken 
in a government school, or a religious ques- 
tionnaire set before its students, there is found 
to be an appalling lack of any religious con- 
viction. "What a great void there is in the 
life of students in the realm of religion!" 
Miss Kawai says. 

The students in the Christian dormitories 
are given every opportunity to learn of a re- 




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'u 

o 



in 

"C 

r", 

u 

CO 

a3 
(—1 
o 

o 



O 

o 



O 

Q 



The Outlook 245 

ligion which will fill this void, satisfying the 
needs of both intellect and spirit. Family 
prayers are held daily. Bible classes are con- 
ducted in connection with the dormitory, and 
the girls are urged to attend church. In some 
dormitories, mainly those for younger girls, 
attendance at these various services is com- 
pulsory; but in others, as for example those 
conducted by the Young Women's Christian 
Association, attendance is purely optional. It 
is noteworthy that the dormitories which do 
not require attendance at any of the Christian 
services report that their students without ex- 
ception attend family prayers, and almost 
without exception wish to take Bible study. 
The proportion of those who attend church 
services varies. 

Day by day the girls who live in the dormi- 
tories have the opportunity not only to hear 
of Christianity, but to see it lived. Doubtless 
the life of the Christian house-mother often 
does more to lead the students to become Chris- 
tians than any other influence. The daily 
family prayers have made a deep impression 
on many. Miss Phillips tells us that '' stu- 
dents, who, after spending a term or two in 
one of these hostels, have left apparently un- 
touched by Christianity, have returned after 
three or four years to ask for further instruc- 



246 Education of Women in Japan 

tion, and almost invariably it has been the 
memory of the daily family prayer that has 
clung to them and finally led them to Christ." 

The value of the Christian hostel for 
women students in non-Christian schools was 
recognized by the Continuation Committee 
Conference held in Tokyo in April, 19 13, and 
the following resolution was passed at that 
tim.e. " This Conference emphasizes the su- 
preme importance of establishing Christian 
hostels in increasing numbers in large cities, 
in order that the student life in government 
schools may be adequately touched in a spirit- 
ual way." 

The opportunities to reach students in non- 
Christian schools through Bible classes are 
practically unlimited. " I could have a Bible 
class every hour in the day," one of the secre- 
taries of the Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciation told me recently. Miss Kawai assures 
us that however seemingly indifferent to re- 
ligion government school students may be, 
there is a real spiritual unrest, which mere 
intellectual dilettanteism is wholly failing to 
meet. Certainly the eagerness with which 
these students, both men and women, are ask- 
ing for Bible teaching indicates that they are 
not content to lose the religion of their an- 
cestors and have nothing in its place. " I am 



The Outlook 247 

going to Japan," a young outgoing missionary 
said recently, '' because I have been there once, 
and I cannot forget the voice of the govern- 
ment school student saying, ' Please, may I 
come into your Bible class.' " 

" I must tell you of Miss Fukuda," a mis- 
sionary wrote, '' one of our Christian v^omen 
in Kyoto, who was sent to Tokyo to study the 
newest methods of teaching the blind and deaf 
in the largest institution of the kind in Japan, 
which is situated there. She and one other 
woman were the only Christians on the prem- 
ises. When it became known that Miss 
Fukuda was a Christian, a few of the female 
pupils asked her to teach them something 
about the Bible. She gladly consented to do 
so, and they came to her room every Sunday 
afternoon for a Bible class. Gradually others 
asked to join the class; then some of the male 
pupils also asked to join, until finally her room 
would not hold all who wished to come, so she 
went to the principal and asked permission to 
use one of the class-rooms. He astonished her 
by offering to let her use the assembly-room, 
and by agreeing to her inviting missionaries 
to lecture to the pupils on Christianity every 
Sunday afternoon." 

Within the past year the Bible classes con- 
ducted by the Tokyo Young Women's Chris- 



248 Education of Women in Japan 

tian Association have grown from twelve to 
twenty-one, eighteen of these classes being for 
students only. About one hundred and fifty 
government school girls are enrolled in them. 
It would be difficult to find a more satisfying 
work in which to invest life than in bringing 
to these hungry, restless-hearted students the 
knowledge of the God who made them for 
Himself. Nor would it be easy to find a task 
more far reaching in its effect upon the future 
of the nation. 

What is the outlook in Japan? The words 
of Count Okuma fairly picture its present con- 
dition. '* Japan is spiritually hungry and 
thirsty." Everywhere there is the recognition 
of the nation's great need of moral strength. 
At a large provincial teachers' meeting held in 
Yokohama, where, says Miss Fisher, " one 
would naturally suppose that the discussions 
would have been along the line of pedagogical 
methods to be pursued, ... as a matter of 
fact, without exception, every address dealt 
with ideals of character-building, with moral 
issues." And back of the sense of moral need, 
lies a recognition of the fact that religion and 
morality are inseparably united. 

A striking testimony to the reality of 
Japan's appreciation of the fact that only re- 
ligion can furnish a remedy for her moral 



The Outlook 249 

weakness is *' The Three Religions Confer- 
ence " held in 191 1. With the consent and 
approval of the Cabinet and several influential 
older statesmen, the Vice Minister of Home 
Affairs called together representatives of Chris- 
tianity, Shintoism, and Buddhism to consider 
the problem of how Japan's moral life might 
be elevated. In explaining the reason for such 
a conference the Vice Minister said : " It is 
felt necessary to give religion an added power 
and dignity. At present moral doctrine is in- 
culcated by education alone, but it is impossible, 
to inculcate firmly fair and upright ideas in 
the mind of the nation, unless the people are 
brought in touch with the fundamental con- 
ception known as God, Buddha, or Heaven, 
as taught in religion. It is necessary that edu- 
cation and religion should go hand in hand 
to build up the basis of the national ethics; 
and it is therefore desirable that a scheme 
should be devised to bring education and re- 
ligion into closer relations to enable them to 
promote the national welfare." 

The name given to the reign of the new 
Emperor is deeply significant. When the late 
Emperor Meiji was restored to power it was 
felt that his task was to secure for his country 
all that universal education and international 
intercourse could give, and in recognition of 



250 Education of Women in Japan 

this aim his reign was called " The Era of 
Enlightenment." Modern Japan recognizes 
that such enlightenment alone is not enough, 
and in clear appreciation of a deeper, a more 
fundamental, need the new Emperor's reign 
has been named " The Great Holiness Era." 
Does this great nation, spiritually hungry 
and thirsty, need our help in its search for 
holiness ? Japan is nearer than any other non- 
Christian country to the time when foreign 
missionaries may feel that their work is ended, 
and may leave the Christian leadership of the 
nation wholly to the Japanese Christian 
forces. But that time is not yet; nor will it 
be until Christian education is so firmly es- 
tablished that the Christian community will 
never lack the influence and power given by 
thoroughly educated leaders. Unaided, the 
Japanese cannot possibly maintain the strong 
Christian educational system which is so im- 
peratively needed for the welfare of the whole 
nation. It is impossible financially; for the 
Christian community is not yet large enough 
or wealthy enough to establish and maintain 
the kind of work that must be done. More- 
over — and this is preeminently true in woman's 
education — there are not enough Japanese 
educators of advanced training to make it 
possible as yet to dispense with the aid of 



The Outlook 251 

foreign faculty members. A Japanese promi- 
nent in educational work has recently said, 
" In Christian education at least there is no 
room for argument as to the need of great re- 
inforcements of men and money from foreign 
countries." 

This statement is one in which practically 
all Christian Japanese and all missionaries will 
to-day heartily concur. A few years ago there 
were a few Japanese Christian leaders who 
felt that help from outside was no longer 
needed; but some, if not all, of these very men 
are now among the most earnest advocates 
of the opposite position. Such facts as those 
revealed by the religious census of the Uni- 
versity of Tokyo have forced all who have 
Japan's best good at heart to a realization of 
an imminent peril, the greatness of which can- 
not well be overstated. Thoughtful Japanese 
and missionaries are alike wide awake to the 
fact that the character of future centuries in 
Japan, " the rudder of the ship of Asia," may 
be determined within the next few years, and 
that only by an immediate and vigorous 
strengthening of Christian education can the 
leaders of the future be saved from the blight- 
ing and deadening influences of loss of re- 
ligious faith, with the accompanying material- 
istic ideals. There must be a like appreciation 



252 Education of Women in Japan 

of this crucial situation on the part of those 
who are making Christian work in Japan pos- 
sible, and an immediate dedication of money 
and of life to the cause of Christian educa- 
tion, if the dangers of the present time are to 
be averted and the opportunities created by 
hunger and dissatisfaction met. 

Nowhere is the need greater or the oppor- 
tunity more challenging than among the 
women students of Japan. To invest life or 
money in the work of developing and strength- 
ening Christian education for women, and pro- 
moting the Christian work being done for 
government school students by the Young 
Women's Christian Association and other 
Christian agencies, is to ensure the richest of 
returns. Because of their restlessness and 
hunger, and because of the vast possibilities 
bound up in them, the mothers and teachers 
of the Japan of the future, the women stu- 
dents offer unbounded opportunities for serv- 
ice of eternal value. When they are won to 
a living faith in the religion of Jesus Christ 
truly the Sunrise Kingdom will enter upon a 
'' Great Holiness Era," in the light of which 
all the nations of the East shall be blessed. 



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BOOKS AND ARTICLES 

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Department of Education : A History of Japanese Edu- 
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Department of Education: Outlines of Modern Educa- 
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Department of Education : A History of Japanese Edu- 
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Gordon, M. L. : An American Missionary in Japan. 

Griffis, W. E. : The Japanese Nation in Evolution. 

Harada, T. : Article in The International Review of 
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Japan, Minister of State for Education. Annual Reports 
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Kikuchi, Baron : Japanese Education. 

Kinnosuke, Adachi : Article in The American Review 
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Lanman, Charles : Japanese in America. 

Lewis, Robert E. : Educational Conquest of the Far East. 

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Nitobe, I. : Bushido. 

Porter, Robert : The Full Recognition of Japan. 

Suyematsu, Baron: Chaps, iv, xiii in Japan by the 
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Tokyo Missionary Conference of 1900, Report of. 

Tsuda, Ume : Articles in Japan Weekly Mail, Nov. 19, 
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Association Monthly. Missionary Review of the 

Heathen Woman's Friend. World. 

Helping Hand. Mission Studies. 

International Review of Spirit of Missions. 

Missions. Woman's Missionary 

Japan Evangelist. Friend. 

Japan Weekly Mail. Woman's Work for 

Life and Light for Women. Woman. 

253 



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INDEX 



INDEX 



Aikoku Fujinkwai (see 

Woman's Patriotic 

League) 
American Board, 171 
American Church Mission, 

156 
Ando, Mrs. 184 
Aoyama Jo Gakuin, 80, 81, 

83, 88, 184, 224, 232 
Araki, Rai, 30 
Araki, Miss lyo, 97 
Arisugawa, Princess, 188 
Association of Nobles, 

137 
Atomi Girls' School, 160, 

161, 181 

Atomi, Madame Kwaki, 

162, 181, 183 
Atomi, Tamae, 183 
Atsuka, Saisho, 181 
Avison, Dr., 97 



B 



Bacon, Miss Alice M., 25, 
128, 151, 153, 154, 155, 
156 

Baikwa Jo Gakko (see 
Osaka Congregational 
School) 

Bakin, daughter of, 30 

Baucus, Miss Georgiana, 
190 

Bedford College of Lon- 
don University, 126 

Benton, Miss, 58 



Berry, Dr. John, 171 

Bible classes among stu- 
ents in non-Christian 
schools, 246-248 

Bible Women's Training 
Schools, 203 

Blanchet, Mrs. 38 

Blue Stocking Society, 217 

Booth, Dr., 236 

Boston City Hospital, 172 

Boston School of Physical 
Culture, 126 

Brown, Miss Emily, 90, 93 

Bryn Mawr College, 46, 
206 

Buddhism, 134, 244, 249 
efforts of Japanese 
women on behalf of, 
18, 19 
effect on position of 
Japanese women, 20- 
22, 220 

Buddhist college for wom- 
en, 203 

Buddhist religion, commit- 
tee sent to investigate, 
18 

Buddhist societies, 203 

Buddhist women, 194 

Bushido, 24 



Cambridge Training Col- 
lege, 126 

Canadian Methodist Mis- 
sion, 196 

Caroline Wright Memorial 



259 



26o 



Index 



School (see Hakodate 
Methodist School) 

Carrothers, Mrs., 43 

Ceremonial Tea, 24 

China, culture of, 15 
opportunity of Christian 
education for women 
in, 227 
sacred books of, 19 

Chinese literature, 2^, 24, 
30 

Chu Gakko, 79 

Christian college for wom- 
en, 229-242 

Christian dormitories, 243- 
246 (see also Young 
Women's Christian 
Association, dormito- 
ries of) 

Christian education, inade- 
quacy of, 210 

Christian Movement in 
Japan, 78, 230 

Cleveland Homeopathic 
Medical College, 177 

Cody, Miss, 96 

Colby, Miss, 57, 100 

Colonial Department, 44 

Columbian Exposition, 
183, 186 

Confucianism, efforts of 
Japanese women on 
behalf of, 18, 17 
effects on position of 
Japanese women, 20- 
22 

Confucius, teachings of, 
20-22 

Continuation Committee 
Conferences of Japan, 
228, 229, 246 

Cook, Joseph, 209 

Courses of study, of pi- 
oneer mission schools 
for girls, 41, 42 



of public elementary 

schools, 110-112 
of public girls' high 

schools, 113-117 
of public normal schools, 

121, 122 
of Girls' Higher Normal 

Schools, 124, 125 
of Peeresses' School, 

139 

of Woman's University, 

142 
of Miss Tsuda's English 

Institute, 154, I55, I59 

D 

Daimyos, 23, 25 
Davis, Miss, 60, 85, 92 
Daughaday, Miss, 61, 64, 

85 

Deaf and Dumb, School 
for, 201 

Denton, Miss, 92, 103 

Department of Agriculture 
and Commerce, Re- 
port for 1910, 167 

Department of Communi- 
cations, 169 

Department of Education, 
47, 68, 76, 77, 78, 107, 
131, 157, 164, 210, 224 
regulations effecting 
mission schools, 76, 
77, 131, 224 

Department of Finance, 
169 

De Forest, Dr., 56, 98 

De Forest, Mrs., 98 

Doshisha Girls' School, 
40, 43, 69, 88, 92, 93, 
^, 100, loi, 103, 232 

Doshisha Training School 
for Nurses, 94 

Doshisha University, 85, 
211 

Dutch Reform Mission, 34 



Index 



261 



Ebina, Mrs,, 93 

Edinburgh World's Mis- 
sionary Conference, 
229, 240 

Educational Code, 47, 48 

Educational Conference in 
Osaka, 132 

Educational Society, 191 

Emperor Mutsuhito (since 
his death called Mei- 
ji), 33, 45, 59, I37, 180 

Emperor Saga, 19 

Empress (now Empress 
Dowager), 48, 60, 61, 

137, 139, 141, 187 
Empress Komyo, 18 
Empress Tachibana, 19 
Era of Enlightenment, 33, 

250 
Everding, Miss, 57 



Factory laws in Japan, 
168 

Family Comforting Asso- 
ciation, 191 

Federation of Women's 
Clubs, Denver Con- 
vention of, 150 

Ferris Seminary, 34, 35, 
42 

Fisher, Galen M., 209 

Fisher, Miss Stella, 248 

Flower arrangement, 24, 
69, Id 

Fukuda, Miss, 247 

Fukuden Society, 194 

Fukuoka, 53, 65 
Congregational girls' 

school of, 93 
Methodist girls' school 
of, 86 

Fujisawa, Prof., 44 



Gaines, Miss, 226 

Gengi Monogatari, 16 

Gheer, Miss, 53 

Girls' Higher Normal 

Schools of Tokyo and 

Nara, 123-127, 130, 

151, 220, 233, 236 

courses of study, 124, 

125 
graduates of, 125, 126 

Goucher, Dr., 229 

Government education for 
women, 105-136 

Government General Hos- 
pital of Korea, 165 

Government recognition in 
mission schools for 
girls, 76, 77, 131, 224 

Graham Seminary (see 
Tokyo, Presbyterian 
school of) 

Great Holiness Era, 250 

Great Learning for Wom- 
en, 20-22, 29 

Griffis, Dr. W. E., 16, 17, 

19 

Gulick, Mrs., 61 
Gunnison, Miss, 64 

H 

Hakkenden, 30 
Hakodate, Methodist 

school of, 56, 58, 95 
Hampton, Miss, 56 
Harada, President, 211, 

212, 213 
Heimen, 138 

Hepburn, Mrs., 34, 35, 39 
Hiden-in, 18 
Hideyoshi, General, 29 
Higher elementary schools, 

108, 109, III, 112 
Herata, Atsutane, 31 



262 



Index 



Hirooka, Mrs. Asa, 170, 
171 

Hirosaki, Methodist school 
of, 75, 84, 95 

Hishakawa, Dr., 178 

Honolulu, Japanese wom- 
en in, 99 

I 

Ikuji Society, 187 

Ikuno, Miss, 182 

Imperial Household De- 
partment, 139 

Imperial Ordinance on 
Elementary Education, 
108 

Imperial Ordinance on 
Public High Schools 
for Girls, 112, 113 

Imperial Rescript on Edu- 
cation, 230 

Imperial University, 44, 58, 
212, 233, 241 
religious census of, 212 

Imperial Woman's Asso- 
ciation, 140 

Inoguchi, Miss Aguri, 126 

Inouye, Dr. Tomo, 97, 
177, 178 

Inouye, Tsu, 30 

Insignia of the Sacred 
Crown, 162, 163 

Ito, Marquis, 45, 141, 150 

Iwakura, Prince, 162 

Iwamoto, Mrs, Kashi, 182 

Izumi-shikibu, 17 

J 

Japan Advertiser, 177 
Japan Evangelist, 178, 

182, 197, 198 
Japan Times, 164 
Japan Weekly Mail, 58, 

151, 164, 169, 182, 186 
Japan Year Book, 117 
Japanese-Chinese War, 73, 

112, 188, 202 



Japanese Congregational 

Churches, 232 
Japanese ideal of woman's 

education, 105, 106 
Japanese women, 
as nurses, 97, 98, 171- 

175 
as physicians, 97, 175- 

179 
as teachers, 93-97, 179- 

181 
changing position of, 

214 
education of, in ancient 

times, 15-20 
education under the sho- 

gunate, 23-32 
in agriculture, 166, 167 
in art, 183 
in business, 169-171 
in industry, 167, 168 
in literature, 16, 17, 29- 

31, 181-183 
in music, 184 
in organized work, 184- 

208 
in philanthropic work, 

17, 18, 186-202 
in religion, 18, 19, 20, 

202-208 
in wartime, 188-194 
influence of, 213, 214 
their need of Christian- 
ity, 220-222 
rulers, 19 
students in the United 

States, 234 
Jenshenni, 18 
Jenzoni, 18 
Jesuits, 37 
Jiji Shimpo, 66 
Jo Gakkon, 192, 193 
Joshi Gakuin, 90, 92, 94, 

96, 97, 99, 102, 103, 

195 



Index 



263 



K 

Kago-no-Chiya, 30 
Kaibara Ekken, 20, 22 

wife of, 29 
Kajima, 170 
Kajira, Mrs., 163 
Kammuira sho-en, 183 
Kanazawa, Presbyterian 

School of, 89 
Kanegafuchi Spinning 

Company, 168 
Karuizawa, 144 
Katsu, Count, 182 
Kawai, Miss Michi, 206- 

208, 243, 244, 246 
Keizenn, 18 
Kidder, Miss, 34, 35 
Kikuchi, Baron, 105, 107, 
109, no, 113, 114, 115, 
118 
Kings* Daughters' Society, 

195 
Kitabatake, Baron, 141 
Kobe, Congregational 

school of, 36, 39, 40, 

41, 42, 69, 70 
Kobe College, 52, 74, 87, 

88, 89, 90, 98, 99, 100, 

loi, 104, 163, 232 
Kofu, 196 

Koganei, Madame, 181 
Kohashi, Miss, 181 
Kojiki (Records), 19 
Komatsu, Princess, 188 
Korea, Japanese women 

in, 97, 98 
Koto Jo Gakko, 79, 224, 

225 
Kuroda, General, 44 
Kwassui Jo Gakko {see 

Nagasaki, Methodist 

school of) 
Kyofokwai {see Woman's 

Christian Temperance 

Union) 



Kyoritsu Jo Gakko, 36, 42 

Kyoto, Congregational 

School of {see Doshi- 

sha Girls' School) 

Kyoto Nurses' Training 

School, 171 



Ladies' Aid Association 
for Lunatics, 188 

Ladies' Patriotic Associa- 
tion, 201 

Lanman, Mr. Charles, 148 

Leavitt, Mrs. Mary C, 

195 
Leeds, Miss, 65 
Lewis, Miss, 199, 222 
Li, Viceroy, 202 
Life and Light for Wom- 
en, 63 
London Polytechnic, 126 
Loyal Temperance Le- 
gion, 196 

M 
MacDonald, Miss Caro- 
line, 130, 131, 133, 134, 
206 
MacNair, Mrs. Theodore, 

191 
Maebashi, 65 
Makura Zoshi, 17 
Mary L. Colby School, 59 
Masako, Princess, 18 
Matsuo Tase, 28, 30 
Matsuyama, mission school 

of, 135 
Mayeda, Dr. Sono, 97, 177 
McKim, Bishop, 152 
Meiji No Joshi, 181 
Military Hospital, 192 
Milliken, Miss, 60, 62, 92, 

96, 102, 103 
Minister of Education, 65, 

113, 119 
report of, 65 



264 



Index 



Mission Schools for Girls, 

alumnae associations of, 
100-102 
beginnings of, 33-44 

character of girls in, 89- 
92 

character of graduates 
of, 92-100 

cordiality toward, 73-75 

course of study of early 
days, 41-44 

development of char- 
acter in, 84-86 

early growth of, 36-38 

gifts to, by Japanese, 40, 
41, 52, 74, 75 

government regulations 
affecting, 76, 'jy, 131, 
224 

occupations of gradu- 
ates, 92-100 

personnel, 39, 57 

preeminent lines of 
strength, 81-87 

proportion of students 
who enter from non- 
Christian homes, 87 

proportion of graduates 
who are Christians, 
87-89 

self-support in early 
days, 39, 40 
Miss Tsuda's English In- 
stitute, 148-161, 194, 
208, 231, 233 

alumnae of, 158-160 

American Committees 
of, 160 
Miwada Girls' School, 162 
Miwada, Madame, 162, 

163 
Miyagawa, Miss Simi, 126 
Mombasho (Imperial 

Board of Education), 

83 
Mori, Mr. Arimori, 46 



children of, 58 
Mori, Princess, 184 
Morioka, daughter of 

Governor of, 57 
Moriya, Miss Azuma, 196 
Mothers' Union of Japan, 

185 
Motoda, Dr. Paul, 79, 80, 

159 
Mt. Fujiyama, 220 
Mt. Holyoke College, 163 
Murasaki-shikibu, 16, 17, 

31 

Mutsu, Count, 96 

N 
Nabeshima, Marchioness, 

184, 188 
Nagasaki, Methodist girls* 

school of, 37, 38, 53, 

56, 57, 64, 85, 92, 94, 

95, 177 
Nagoya, 53 
Methodist girls* school 

of, 74 
Nakajima, Madame, 181 
Nara Girls' Higher Nor- 
mal School, 107, 123 
Nara, image of Buddha 

in, 19 
Naruse, Professor Jinzo, 

71, 140, 141, 142, 143, 

145, 146, 147, 148 
Naval Hospital, 192 
Neesima, Joseph Hardy, 

103 
New England Conserva- 
tory of Music, 184 
Newspapers, criticisms of 

woman's education in, 

66, 67 
Niigata, establishment of 

girls' school in, 54 
Niigata, Congregational 

girls* school of, 57, 

141 



Index 



265 



Nikko, temples of, 19 
Ninomiya, Mrs., 199, 200 
Nitobe, Dr. Inazo, 24, 82 
Nobles' School for Girls 

(see Peeresses' 

School) 
Nobu, Miss, 184 
Nobunaga, General, 29 
Nogi, 171 

Noguchi Shokin, 183 
Nohungi (Chronicles) 
Nurses' Unions, 175 

O 

Ogino, Dr. Gin, 176 
Okada, Miss Mitsu, 126 
Okamura, Madame, 189, 

190 
Okayama, Christian girls' 

school of, 80, 94, 163 
Okonogi, Miss, 126, 181 
Okuma, Count, 141, 150, 

248 
Om, Lady, 98 
Ono-no-tsu, 29 
Osaka, Congregational 

girls' school of, 39, 40, 

43, 51, 85, 98, 100, 140, 

141 
Ladies' Institute of, 59 
Presbyterian girls' 

school of, 51, 57 
visit of their Majesties 

to, 60 
Otsuka, Mrs., 100 
Otakasaka, Isa, 30 
Oyama, Marchioness, 2t), 

46, 155, 160, 188 



Parmalee, Miss, 65 
Peeresses' School, 68, 74, 

93, 126, 137, 140, 149, 

150, 152 



Peeresses' School of Siam, 

126 
Peers' School, 137 
Perry, Commodore, 33 
Pettee, Dr., 199 
Phillips, Miss, 245 
Popularity of woman's ed- 
ucation in " the eigh- 
ties," 51-62 
Porter, Robert, 20 
Presbyterian Mission, 178 
Public education in Japan, 
strength and weak- 
ness of, 127-136 
Public education for girls, 

beginnings of, 47-50 
Public Elementary Schools, 

109-112 
Public High Schools for 
Girls, 1 12-120 
applications for en- 
trance to, 118 
course of study in, 113- 

118 
graduates of, 120 
growth of, 118, 119 
purpose of, 113 
regulations regarding, 
112 
Public Normal Schools, 
120-127 
course of study, 121, 122 
dormitories, 122 

R 

Reaction against woman's 
education, 62-72 

Red Cross Hospital, 97, 
174, 189, 192, 193, 201 

Red Cross Nursing Asso- 
ciation, 188, 189 

Red Cross Society, 188, 
194, 201 

Religious questionnaire in 
an elementary school, 
134 



266 



Index 



Religious census of Im- 
perial University of 
Tokyo, 212 

Richards, Miss Linda, 
171 

Roman Catholic Christian- 
ity, 37 

Roman Catholic schools, 
80 

Root, Dr. Pauline, 69 

Royal Hospital, Korea, 97 

Russell, Miss, 64 

Russo-Japanese war, 173, 
188, 190, 194, 203 



Saionji, Marquis, ']2), 141 
Salem Normal School, 

126 
Salvation Army, 198 
Sakurai-jo-gakico, 41 
Sakurai, Mr., 155 
Sakurai, Mrs., 41 
Samurai, 24, 25, 57 
Sanjo, Princess, 184 
Sapporo, Presbyterian 

school of. Id 
Sato, Miss, 97 
Sawayanagi, President, 

231 
Schneder, Dr., 81 
Searle, Miss, 52, 100 
Sei-Shonagon, 17 
Sekigahara, battle of, 28 
Semmon Gakko, 157, 164 
Sendai, 53 

Baptist school of, 87, 88 
Seoul, Japanese women in, 

98 
Seyakuin, i8 
Shibata, Miss, 184 
Shibusawa, Baron, 141 
Shibuya, Miss, 83 
Shimoda, Madame, 181 



Shintoism, 134, 244, 249 

Shitei-no-Kyoiku, 23 

Shizoku, 138 

Shogunate, 2Z, 28 

Shokin Joshi, 183 

Smith, Mrs. Moses, loi 

Smith, Miss, loi 

Spencer, Miss, 63 

St. Luke's Hospital, 172 

St. Luke's Hospital, train- 
ing school for nurses 
of, 97 

St. Margaret's school, To- 
kyo, 38, 80, 95, 97 

Student Volunteer Move- 
ment, Quadrennial 
Convention of, 209 

Sunday school work done 
by students of mis- 
sion schools, 91, 92 

Suyematsu, Baron, 15 



Taikoku Hospital, For- 
mosa, 174 
Takashimo Bunho, 31 
Takeda, Miss Kin Kato, 

126 
Takimori, Miss, 96 
Talcott, Miss, 40, 42 
Tamura, Mrs. Ume, 173 
Tanabe, Miss, 181 
Tanahashi, Madame, 162 
Terakoya, 23 

Three Religions Confer- 
ence, 249 
Tokyo Academy of Music, 

193 

Tokyo Charity Hospital,i 
187, 201 

Tokyo Charity Hospital 
Association, 187 

Tokyo Girls' Higher Nor- 
mal School, 107, 113, 



Index 



267 



123-127, 150, 152, 162, 
192, 193, 201, 208 

Course of study in, 124, 

125 
Tokyo, Methodist school 

of, 37, 51, 63, 90, 177 

(see also Aoyama Go 

Gakuin) 
Tokyo Musical Academy, 

184 
Tokyo, Presbyterian school 

of, 40, 42, 51, 58 (see 

also Joshi Gakuin) 
Tokyo School for the 

Blind, 127 
Tokyo School for the 

Dumb, 127 
Tokyo Woman's Medical 

School, 163-165, 230 
Tomihara, Miss Yuku, 

164. 
Tottori, girls' school of, 

94 
Toyama, Professor, 58, 59, 

150 
Tsuda, Miss Ume, 28, 31, 
46, 82, 140, 187, 200, 
201, 202, 214, 215, 216, 
217, 218, 219, 220, 225, 
231, 237 

U 

University of Michigan, 

178 
University of Sendai, 231 
Uriu, wife of Admiral, 46 
Utsumi, Baron, 141 



Vassar College, 46 

Vice-Minister of Home 
Affairs, 249 

Voluntary Nurses' Asso- 
ciation, 188 



W 

Wainwright, Miss, 52 

Wakamatsu Castle, de- 
fence of, 29 

Waki Hiromushi, 18 

Watanabe, Miss, 98 

Watson, Miss, 51, 53 

Wellesley College, 126, 
181 

Woman's Association of 
the Temple Sect, 203 

Woman's Christian Tem- 
perance Union, 100, 
182, 195-200 

Woman's Commercial 

School, 163 

Woman's Educational So- 
ciety, 184 

Woman's Foreign Mis- 
sionary Society of the 
Japanese Congrega- 
tional Church, 98 

Woman's Herald, 182 

Woman's Hygienic Asso- 
ciation, 185 

Woman's Patriotic League, 
189, 190 

Woman's Union Mission, 

35, 36 
Woman's University, 140- 
148, 181, 192, 230, 233 
alumnae association of, 

144, 145 

ideals of, 14S-148 

occupations of gradu- 
ates of, 145 
" Woman's Work for 
Woman," editor of, 

World's Embassy, 45 
World's Student Christian 

Federation, 206, 207 
World's Young Women's 

Christian Association, 

204, 207 



268 



Index 



Work for girls in non- 
Christian schools, 242- 
248 

Y 

Yagashira, !Miss Hido, 70 
Yajima. ]\Irs. 195, 197, 

ic^. 109 
Yamato. 16, 17 
Yasui. Miss Tetsii, 126 
Yedo, 30 
Yokohama Girls' High 

School, 135 
Yokohama, governor of, 

34. 39 
judge of. 58 
Methodist mission of, 

199 



Yomiuri Shimbiru, 66 

Yonezawa, 53 

Yoshioka, Dr., 163, 165, 

176. 177. 230 
Yoshivara, 198 
Young Men's Christian 

Association. 19S. 209 
Young Women's Chris- 
tian Association, 159, 
1 68, 170. 200, 204- 
208, 247, 248, 252 
Bible classes of, 205 
Commission of, 168, 175 
dormitories of, 204, 205, 

243. 245 
summer conferences of, 
205. 206 
Yukio, JMrs. Ozaki, iSi 



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41 923 



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